Russian flats producers have increased their domestic offers for April production, mainly due to a certain allocation restriction following previous export sales, a lack of imports, and scheduled maintenance works. In fact, the seasonal end-user demand improvement is yet to come and is expected around May and June, sources say.
One of the key Russia steel producers has announced its hot-rolled sheets (HRS) domestic prices at RUB 65,000/mt ($715/mt) CPT, RUB 5,500/mt ($55/mt) up compared to the previous round. “There is a big lack of sheets in the market. Everyone has their cutting capacities loaded with orders for 1.5 months ahead,” a supplier told SteelOrbis. “There is no import at all while exports to the CIS countries is attractive and there are a lot of sales at good prices,” he added.
In the cold-rolled segment, the sheet prices for April have increased by RUB 1,500/mt ($8/mt) over 10 days to RUB 73,500/mt ($808/mt) CPT, SteelOrbis has learned.
As for exports to distant markets, one of the Russian mills traded around 30,000 mt of HRC for April rolling to Turkey from $750-760/mt FOB and up to $780-790/mt FOB in the most recent sales. Another supplier has been targeting around $730/mt FOB, but decided to trade slabs instead, SteelOrbis understands.
