Russia’s presence in the distant export markets for hot rolled coil (HRC) is still quite limited with the mills being concentrated on domestic sales and the trade to the nearby CIS countries. However, some talks have resumed recently, taking into account the seasonal slowing down of domestic sales. However, production is still restricted amid ongoing maintenance works.
In the meantime, domestic hot-rolled sheet (HRS) prices in Russia have remained at RUB 66,000/mt or around $640/mt CPT according to $1 = RUB 88.5. As regards exports, according to sources, the highest achievable price for Russia's sanctioned mills is at around $550-555/mt FOB, particularly in Turkey, which is not interesting for Russian mills especially taking into account the export duty. However, some of the suppliers are keeping an eye on import tenders for pipe production, particularly in Algeria and Morocco. “[Locally] the pipe-makers have been decreasing their demand, but not critically yet. In parallel, there are maintenance works at the [HR] mills and there is no excess of supply. We are loading for December without distant exports, and we will see for January February,” a source in Russia told SteelOrbis.
The local Russian prices for cold-rolled sheets (CRS) have increased by RUB 4,220/mt ($111/mt) over the past six weeks to RUB 82,220/mt ($774/mt) CPT. “MMK is out with four-month maintenance at its pickling line and at the same time NLMK has repairs scheduled for one to two weeks, so there is a deficit of cold-rolled in the market,” a source said.