Ex-CIS billet prices move sideways

During the past week, ex-CIS billet prices have moved sideways in the range of $320-335/mt FOB. Market sources state that, while Chinese billet export quotations have increased by $37.5/mt since the beginning of August due to production cuts in China, the sideways movement of ex-CIS billet prices has continued over the past week as demand for billet from the CIS region has failed to improve.
 
Meanwhile, buyers in the Gulf region - one of the target markets for ex-CIS billet exports - are still concluding billet purchases only in line with their needs, while, due to the ongoing political tension in Turkey and the continuing tightness of foreign exchange availability in Egypt, ex-CIS billet sales to these regions are also very limited.