The earthquake in Japan added on top of the chaotic political backdrop in the Middle East and North Africa has meant that the slow and weak state of demand for flat rolled in February has continued through March, with price levels slackening.
The abovementioned factors along with already weak demand have also contributed to the softening CIS flat rolled producers' prices. As per information SteelOrbis has obtained from sources in the market, Russian producer Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works' (MMK) hot rolled coil export offers are at $725-730/mt FOB Novorrossiysk, while another Russian steel producer Severstal is offering at around $710/mt FOB St. Petersburg. Furthermore, Ukrainian steel producer Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol (Ilyich) is heard to be offering hot rolled coils to the European market at around $680-690/mt FOB Mariupol.
Some softening has also been observed in the export offers given from Turkey, as compared to early March levels. The Turkish producers, who have received more orders from the export markets for April rolling compared to orders received from their domestic market, are offering hot rolled coils in the range of $750-800/mt FOB. Even though Turkish flat rolled producers have for a while now benefitted from the strong trend of the euro against the US dollar in their major export market Europe, the advantage due to the exchange rate is observed to have diminished somewhat.
When we look at the Far East market, we see that boron-added hot rolled coil offers from Chinese flat rolled producers are at around $720/mt FOB, while ready cargo offers for Europe stand at $750/mt CFR for hot rolled coils and at €630/mt ($890/mt) CFR for cold rolled coils, effective. In the Chinese domestic market, demand is not so strong currently and so market insiders expect China to start making more aggressive offers.
Iranian producer Mobarakeh is heard to have initiated a new hot rolled coil tender and, even though the bids received so far are somewhat low, the producer is aiming to achieve prices at $735-740/mt FOB levels.
Generally in the market, flat rolled products buyers for the moment prefer to wait for price levels to approach their desired levels, and will accelerate their purchase activities once such levels are obtained.