Export prices for billet from Russia’s Far East region have declined further in new deals to Taiwan as buyers have been insisting on discounts, seeing falling scrap prices over the past few weeks, while suppliers have limited options where to sell.
A few contracts were signed at $498/mt CFR early this week and at $495/mt CFR a little later. This is down from deals at $500-505/mt CFR last week. “$505 CFR was the offer, but I don’t think it is workable as scrap in Taiwan is weakening. The import price idea for billets is below $500/mt CFR,” a Singapore-based trader said.
Russian billet offers are still the most competitive in the East Asian market. By Friday, the offer level for ex-Indonesia billet stands at $495/mt FOB. This translates to around $515/mt CFR. Though ex-China billet prices have been on the rise this week, market sources said that demand has so far been insufficient to push up ex-ASEAN prices.