The latest disclosed deals for Russian and Donbass billets have hit $450/mt FOB. But after the recent hike in scrap prices and local billet and rebar prices in the Turkish market, offers from Russia are limited as sellers hope to get higher prices in the next deals.
Early this week, 10,000 mt of billet were sold at $478/mt CFR Bartin, while most market sources agree that it was material from Donbass, the Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia. This price translates to around $450-451/mt FOB Black Sea. In addition, late last week a small volume of ex-Russia billet was transacted at $483/mt CFR Izmir, but the higher price is mainly due to higher freight rate to Izmir.
However, as for the current offers, most sellers have taken a pause in the middle of this week. “Supply is limited. New offers (if any) will be over $480/mt CFR Turkey [translates to $450-455/mt FOB],” a Turkey-based source said. A few traders dealing with Russian billet have said that they believe that Russian billet prices will add another $5-10/mt in the near future if scrap remains firm, as “this [Russian billet] will be the cheapest option”.
The SteelOrbis reference price has settled at $455/mt FOB Black Sea towards the end of this week, rising by $7.5/mt on average over the week.