CIS-based HRC exporters have rather strong market positions, supported by firm raw material prices, solid demand and the lack of allocation for June. Moreover, some buyers have started to accept higher prices and some deals have been fixed this week.
After a long pause, Russia’s NLMK has finally announced its official price for July HRC for Turkey at $430/mt CFR. MMK, another ex-Russia seller, remains out of the market with no offers given for exports as the mill is focusing on lively domestic sales. Ukraine’s Metinvest remains at $405-420/mt CFR for small coils and at $420-425/mt CFR for big coils in the Turkish market, with no sales reported yet. However, the producer has closed a deal for 5,000 mt of big coils to Egypt at $420-425/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned.
In the Baltic region, Russia’s Severstal has traded some volume to the northern part of the EU at around $400/mt FOB, while generally demand in Europe has been reviving slowly. Meanwhile, the producer has sold around 40,000 mt of HRC to Vietnam this week at $390/mt FOB. The supplier’s offers to the Middle East were reported at around $420-425/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned.
Solid demand in the Russian domestic HRC market provides great support for mills, making them more relaxed in terms of exports. “Russia might have only 200,000-250,000 mt of HRC in total for July to sell abroad,” a trader stated.
