Weaker sentiment has prevailed in the market for ex-Russia billet this week, though most Russian suppliers are not in a position to drop prices significantly, and, overall, the available allocation has been quite limited with major Russian mills being sold out for February shipment.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has edged down a bit, based on lower bids and rare deals to $515-520/mt FOB Black Sea, with the midpoint at $517.5/mt FOB, down by $3.5/mt on average from the previous level fixed since late last week. Though at least one large Russian mill has been saying that prices are not below $530/mt FOB, this level seems too high, even taking into account the recent decline in freight rates. “Billet prices stay at the same level, but there are no more buyers at those levels,” a trader said, adding, however, that inventories are still low and suppliers have sold enough, so the market may remain stable and may go up slowly after the holidays again.
The only deal reported over the past week was one for 20,000 mt of Russian billet done at slightly above $545/mt CFR Turkey, while last week the reference deal prices for Russian origin billet were at $550-558/mt CFR. Sources assume that $550/mt CFR levels may still be acceptable for some buyers, but the issue is that there is hardly any firm inquiry seen in the market. Aside from Russia, there are offers for ex-Algeria billet at $585/mt CFR to Turkey via an international trader. The level is not considered workable at the moment, since the previous 25,000 mt cargo was sold earlier in December at $560/mt CFR Aliaga.
In the Turkish domestic market, a Marmara-based mill is offering at $600-605/mt ex-works/FOB, and the same level was offered by the integrated producer Kardemir this week, though it managed to sell only a couple of thousand tons. In the Iskenderun region, one mill is said to be ready to sell at $595-600/mt ex-works, but no transactions have been heard by the time of publication.