Higher ex-Russia billet prices have been seen in both offers and deals, supported by the still positive mood in Turkey and overall limited billet availability.
There is information in the market that a deal for 10,000 mt of ex-Russia billet has been signed at $510/mt FOB Novorossiysk for late December shipment. This price translates to around $535/mt CFR Turkey, adding the freight, though there has been no confirmation where the lot will be traded finally by the trader. “We can talk now only for January shipment offers, which are not below $535/mt CFR,” a trader, dealing with Russian material, said. Another trader has confirmed that offers are on the rise and Turkish buyers are interested in negotiations, though there are not many sales on CFR basis yet.
At least one mill from Russia has announced offers at as high as $530/mt FOB, though a few traders said that more reasonable offers should be coming from Russia and Donbass at $505-510/mt FOB.
A few deals for ex-Russia prompt shipment billet for 20,000 mt in total have been done to Turkey at $517-518/mt CFR last week, and prices are expected to increase in the new round of sales.
Offers from the CIS to Egypt have also increased, up to $550/mt CFR, while there has been talk of at least one sale done at $10/mt lower last week, translating to around $500/mt FOB Black Sea.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has increased by $5/mt on average since late last week to $500-510/mt FOB Black Sea, taking into account the latest deals and higher offers.
Other billet suppliers have also been bullish. An offer for 10,000 mt of ex-Algeria billet has been voiced at $555/mt CFR Turkey and some sources said that this origin is available at up to $560/mt CFR. As SteelOrbis reported last week, the previous deal for Algerian billet was done at $535/mt CFR and new negotiations for this origin were held at up to $550/mt CFR by the end of the week.
Ex-Asia billet offers for January shipment to Turkey have been at $560-565/mt CFR and up to $570/mt CFR.