During the past week, ex-CIS billet prices have increased by $15/mt on the lower end and by $10/mt on the upper end to $410-420/mt FOB. Along with the lively demand for ex-CIS billet in Egypt, the sharp rise seen in global scrap quotations and the increase recorded in Chinese billet export prices have influenced CIS-based suppliers, causing the upward movement of ex-CIS billet quotations to accelerate.
Accordingly, while Egyptian buyers’ ex-CIS billet deals were at $420/mt CFR last week, currently prices seen in new deals are reportedly at $425-435/mt CFR. Market sources also report that Egyptian buyers have accepted the rises in ex-CIS billet quotations and that their purchases are continuing without slowing down.
Meanwhile, CIS-based suppliers’ billet offers to Turkey have increased by $15/mt on the lower end over the past week and are currently at $425-430/mt CFR. With Turkish domestic billet prices moving up to $440-450/mt ex-works and also given the tight availability seen in the local Turkish billet market, it is thought that Turkish buyers may step up their demand for ex-CIS billet in the short term. On the other hand, liquid steel producers still prefer to use scrap in their production instead of billet as it is more advantageous in terms of costs and they are still concluding plenty of transactions for import scrap.