Expected revision seen in ex-CIS billet prices

According to market sources, ex-CIS billet offers have been revised upwards by $15/mt on the lower end and by $5/mt on the upper end over the past week, reaching the range of $365-370/mt FOB. As we mentioned last week, CIS-based billet traders had been seeking to revise their offers upwards, claiming that billet demand in the export markets, which had been postponed for a while, had started to reappear. In addition, the firm trend of scrap prices in global market has also provided support for an upward revision of their offer prices by billet suppliers, despite decreasing iron ore prices.
 
According to market players in the CIS, an ex-Ukraine billet deal has been concluded in Turkey at $365/mt FOB this week, while no other import billet deals have been heard yet. Also, Belarus-based Byelorussian Steel Works (BMZ), which kept its billet offers unchanged at $365/mt FOB for May production last week, has concluded approximately 40,000 mt of billet sales to the export markets within the scope of its tender at a price a little below this level.