The domestic flats business has remained sufficient in Russia, partly due to higher consumption but also owing to the limited allocation. Particularly, some mills are under maintenance which limits supply significantly. In the meantime, the local currency rate has declined due to economic reasons. As a result, the suppliers have increased some offers over two weeks in the national currency, but the US dollar equivalent of the prices has on the contrary weakened.
Particularly, local hot rolled coil (HRC) offers in Russia have increased by RUB 2,000/mt to RUB 63,000/mt CPT, but in US dollars they have declined by $8/mt to $544/mt CPT. The Russian hot rolled sheet (HRS) local price levels have remained stable for now in the national currency at RUB 65,000/mt CPT, but have declined by $27/mt over the past fortnight to $561/mt CPT.
In the cold rolled segment, domestic prices for sheets have increased by RUB 1,000/mt to RUB 74,500/mt CPT, while in the US dollar equivalent they have dropped by $22/mt to $643/mt CPT.
$1 = RUB 96.5
