The mood in the CIS billet export market has improved this week, following the news about the cancelation of the safeguard duty in Egypt, and resumed negotiation in this market. Mills have started to increase offers, and the tradable levels have already increased.
New offers from one Ukrainian and some Russian billet producers have rebounded to $650/mt FOB and slightly higher, up by $10-20/mt from the most competitive offers seen last week. “They are targeting Egypt now,” a trader said. Another contact also said that prices have firmed up in both offers and bids as well, also pointing out stable scrap tags.
One of the major sellers has assessed the current tradable level at already $640/mt FOB Black Sea, though no new deals have been reported at this level so far. The latest booking for ex-Ukraine billet was at $630/mt FOB, to Turkey, up slightly from the previous deal at $625-630/mt FOB.
In Turkey, the billet trade still lacks activity with only some sporadic negotiations heard around. This deal at around $630/mt FOB translates to slightly above $660/mt CFR. In addition, there has been information in the market regarding the sale of the stressed cargo of 30,000-40,000 mt. Some sources say it was closed at $630/mt CFR Iskenderun, while others insist that the correct price level is at $648/mt CFR, which is considered by many as a more logical one. “The drop of $30/mt from the previously sealed ex-CIS $660/mt CFR price would be too much of a decrease,” a trader told SteelOrbis. In the domestic market of Turkey, there is hardly any firm billet offer as the trading activity has been subdued due to currency fluctuations, insufficient rebar demand. In the meantime, the import scrap prices have remained relatively firm, restricting the size of the discounts that may be provided by Turkish mills for billet, SteelOrbis understands. The indicative level in the domestic market is still hovering around $700-710/mt ex-works.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-CIS Black Sea billet has increased by $2.5/mt on average from $625-640/mt FOB last week to $630-640/mt FOB.