Having mostly moved downwards last month, ex-CIS billet prices to the export markets have declined further by an average of $22.5/mt week on week and are currently at $460-475/mt FOB.
Meanwhile, demand received by CIS-based billet suppliers from their export markets is still at low levels. Additionally, the downward movement of ex-CIS billet offers has accelerated due to the aggressive billet export offers of Iranian suppliers heard recently, and also due to the fairly full inventories of the CIS-based suppliers.
Ex-CIS billet offers to Turkey are currently at $480-485/mt CFR, while domestic billet prices in Turkey have not recorded any significant declines during the past week as import scrap prices in Turkey have remained at high levels. As a result, CIS-based suppliers’ billet prices are now at attractive levels in Turkey as compared to Turkish domestic billet quotations, while CIS-based suppliers have concluded sales to Turkey at $480-485/mt CFR. Meanwhile, market sources report that billet supply is at insufficient levels in the local Turkish billet market, and so Turkish buyers are forced to turn to import billet for their purchases.
Lastly, CIS-based suppliers’ billet offers to Egypt are now at $480-485/mt CFR and market sources report that Egyptian buyers are concluding new billet bookings from the CIS region in this price range.