Prices for ex-CIS billet have declined slightly over the past week. Major mills have been trying to sell their remaining volumes for June shipment, while demand, except from China, has been slack.
A deal for 45,000 mt of ex-Russia billet was done to China at $335/mt FOB ($366/mt CFR) for June shipment last week, SteelOrbis has confirmed. “The real demand is at around $335/mt FOB,” one of the producers said. There has been a rumour that a trader sold another Russian origin lot at almost the same price level, but this has not been confirmed by the time of publication.
Offers from major mills have been heard at about $340/mt FOB. Due to lower freight rates this corresponds to slightly below $360/mt CFR in North Africa. Some volumes of Russian billet for prompt shipment were traded to North Africa at above $340/mt FOB last week. But overall demand from this sales destination has been slack recently.
There has been an additional inquiry for 50,000 mt of billet from Saudi Arabia this week. Last week, one of the Saudi customers bought 100,000 mt in total at $360-361/mt CFR, which is equivalent to $335-340/mt FOB, taking into account freight at about $20/mt and the additional extra for the chemical composition of the billet. At the moment, offers from the CIS are coming at a similar level and market sources believe that it is unlikely that mills will provide big discounts.
Italian customers have been asking for offers from the CIS, targeting $355/mt CFR ($330-335/mt FOB), but no deals have been heard so far.
Offers for ex-CIS billet to Turkey have been at $350/mt CFR on average, also corresponding to $340/mt FOB.
Some CIS-based producers, which have already sold out June shipment material or are just not in a hurry to sell, were offering at about $350-355/mt FOB or even higher, which has not been workable at all.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-CIS billet from the Black Sea region has declined to $335/mt FOB from $335-340/mt FOB late last week.
