Flat steel producers in Russia have managed to maintain their domestic offers for sheets for October production unchanged at the level of the previous month, supported by still relatively positive demand. Following the revival of local business activity seen in July-August, mills’ sales are still satisfactory. As a result, some of them feel less pressure to export and either have limited sales allocations or prefer concentrating on the nearer, higher-paying markets.
Currently, domestic prices for hot rolled sheets (HRS) in Russia are at RUB 56,000/mt ($778/mt) CPT from the key suppliers, in line with the offer levels for September production. The cold rolled sheets (CRS) prices are also relatively stable at RUB 58,000-58,500/mt ($806-813/mt) CPT, SteelOrbis has learned. “The local market takes good volumes, so for now we decided to step back from exports as there is not enough allocation to trade in big lots, while selling small batches makes little sense for Russia these days,” a Russian producer told SteelOrbis.
Better local demand and relatively high prices have indeed provided good support for the Russian mills, which are not under pressure to be active in exports, where the workable prices are much lower. The latest HRC offers from Russia to Turkey have been reported at $620-640/mt CFR depending on the supplier, which corresponds to around $550/mt FOB Baltic Sea and around $580-590/mt FOB Black Sea.
$1 = RUB 60
