CIS-based rebar and wire rod producers have increased their export prices over the past two weeks with some deals fixed to the EU and North Africa, supported also by strong scrap prices. However, import scrap prices in Turkey have decreased in the most recent deals, causing longs buyers to anticipate discounts from both CIS-based and Turkish mills.
Export rebar prices from both Russia and Ukraine have increased by $5-10/mt over the mentioned period to $415-420/mt FOB from the key suppliers for August shipments. Some deals have been closed to African buyers at $410-412/mt FOB this week. In the European market, according to sources, Russia’s NLMK is offering at €385-390/mt CPT Baltic region, which is calculated at an equivalent of around $440/mt FOB Black Sea. Russia’s Severstal is officially offering €390/mt FOB for rebar, but some buyers report the same level is on offer to Latvia on delivered basis. Overall, it is said that the business activity in the EU for ex-CIS rebar has been gradually reviving, with the workable level estimated at around €380-385/mt CPT northern Europe, SteelOrbis understands.
In the wire rod segment, ex-CIS offers have increased by $10/mt to $430-440/mt FOB for August-September shipments. Ukraine-based sellers have been offering to North Africa at the higher end of the range, while one of the Russian mills managed to sell 10,000-15,000 mt of wire rod to Israel at $430-435/mt FOB, SteelOrbis has learned.