Following the sharp declines recorded since the start of the current week in scrap prices which had already been moving downwards since mid-January, billet buyers in the global market have started to postpone their bookings due to their increased expectations for a decline in billet prices. As a result, ex-CIS billet prices have declined slightly over the past week.
CIS-based suppliers’ billet offers to the export markets, which were at $385-395/mt FOB in the middle of last week and declined to $380-390/mt FOB early this week amid the weakness of demand and also due to the downward movement of scrap prices, decreased by a further $10/mt yesterday, January 25, to $370-380/mt FOB. Since scrap prices have continued to fall rapidly, ex-CIS billet offers to the export markets are expected to continue their downward movement in the coming period.
Against the above backdrop, CIS-based suppliers’ billet offers to Turkey and Egypt have started to range at $390-400/mt CFR and $385/mt CFR respectively, while demand for ex-CIS billet in both these markets is slack, with buyers expected to exert downward pressure on the current billet prices due to the declines in scrap prices.