SteelOrbis has been informed that international demand for ex-CIS billet is still at low levels, while CIS-based billet producers’ order books are fairly full due to higher domestic billet and rebar demand caused by the influence of summer. On the other hand, due to the weakness of international demand, ex-CIS billet offers have decreased further by $10/mt on the lower end in the current week to $490-510/mt FOB.
While ex-CIS billet offers to Turkey and Egypt are currently at $505-515/mt CFR and $510-530/mt CFR, respectively, only few ex-CIS billet deals have been concluded in those markets. In the meantime, Feast of Sacrifice holiday will start in the last week of August, and so ex-CIS billet purchases in Turkey and Egypt are not expected to accelerate in the short term.