Though sentiments in the CIS billet export market have remained mainly bearish this week due to the weakness in the scrap segment, prices have been relatively stable compared to last week as some end-year demand has been reported from Latin America and North Africa.
A deal for 30,000 mt of ex-Ukraine billet has been heard to the Dominican Republic at $660/mt CFR, according to market sources. Though some sources are evaluating the FOB price at $590/mt FOB base in this deal, there is information in the market from a few sources that the mill has been able to get a more competitive freight rate and that the FOB equivalent is closer to $600/mt FOB. In addition, a lot of 10,000 mt of billet has been heard in negotiations to Colombia at $720/mt CFR, which translates to $600/mt FOB, taking into account high freight for this volume and destination. There has been no confirmation that the deal was done by the time of publication and some sources said that CIS-based sellers have been targeting $605/mt FOB.
As a result, most major CIS-based mills are still asking for $600/mt FOB and above, the same as last week, and have been resisting going below this level so far.
Another sales destination, where inquiries for ex-CIS billet have been heard, has been North Africa. The latest bookings for ex-Russia billets to Egypt have been heard at $645-650/mt CFR, in small volumes to cover January needs, which corresponds to $600/mt FOB or just slightly less. Bids have been mainly at $640/mt CFR this week, but no deals at this level have been confirmed so far.
Bids for ex-CIS billet from Algeria have been at $650/mt CFR, but offers have not been below $660/mt CFR. Tunisia has also been in the market recently, discussing purchases at $640-645/mt CFR or $590-595/mt FOB. But among large CIS-based mills there have been no such offers, at least for now.
“I believe that the tradable price is still at $590-595/mt FOB,” a trader said, but mills have been seeing some demand and have not been willing to cut prices to this level so far.
Turkey’s import market has been very weak with bids coming at $600-610/mt CFR and up to only $616/mt CFR from some regions. This is far below offers at $630-640/mt CFR from the CIS.
The SteelObris reference price for ex-CIS billet has remained at last week’s level of $595-600/mt FOB.
