Prices for ex-Russia billet prices have increased, following the latest hike in scrap, but further upturn is questionable, according to sources.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia Black Sea billet has been settled at $444-447/mt FOB with the midpoint at $445.5/mt FOB Black Sea, moving up by $3/mt on average since late last week.
There has been a rumor that the major Russian mill traded a sizable tonnage to Turkey at $470/mt CFR, but this level has been denied by market sources, and a few players have said that in fact, this producer managed to sell at $462-463/mt CFR and late last week. This price translates to $444-445/mt FOB for at least 20,000 mt. “$470/mt CFR is reasonable for the future, but I doubt it has already been done and especially for big volumes,” a trading source said.
In addition, since Tuesday, some bids from Turkish buyers for small volumes (2,000-3,000 mt) of end-January shipment Russian billets have started to come at $465/mt CFR Turkish Black Sea, translating to $445/mt on FOB Black Sea basis. Russian sellers will target $470/mt CFR or $450/mt FOB, but it is questionable if buyers will accept billet offers above this level in the near future, taking into account that market sources believe scrap prices have reached a ceiling for now.
In the Egyptian import billet market, Russian billet with high manganese have been available at $490-500/mt CFR, which translates to $475-490/mt CFR for base billet.