Following the price hike attempts of Asian billet suppliers, major billet exporters based in Russia’s Far East region have also increased their offer prices, but with no success. The situation in the slab segment is even more complicated.
The latest billet offers from Russia’s Far East region to Taiwan were at $440/mt CFR late last week and are up to $445-450/mt CFR at present, according to market sources. This is up from the previous deals at $430/mt CFR to Thailand and $435/mt CFR to Taiwan. Even though the current offers from Russia are among the most competitive, buyers are reluctant to purchase, as sanctioned Russian material cannot be traded in many countries even in Asia due to the bank restrictions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine. In Southeast Asia, import offers for Asian origins have risen to $460-470/mt CFR for 3SP and 5SP and even above these level sfrom some suppliers. But “In Manila, we don’t count Russian offers as tradable. They are still focusing on Taiwan mainly,” a trader said.
In the slab segment, material from the sanctioned mill in Russia’s Far East region has been available at $500/mt CFR for plate-grade slabs and $480/mt CFR for HRC grade, but no deals have been reported as even for non-toxic origins bids have not been above $500/mt CFR.
In Turkey, with the previous drop in scrap prices, the gap between offers and bids for slabs has been rising. The achievable level for Russian slabs from the Black Sea from a non-sanctioned mill is still at $450/mt CFR, but bids for sanctioned slabs from Russia are much lower.
In Asia, the tradable levels for sanctioned slabs, like those from Russia and Iran, have been at $430-435/mt CFR at the highest. Even though there have been rumors that Iran sold sizable volumes to Asia at $405/mt FOB, translating to near $435-440/mt CFR, this has been denied by a number of market sources. “Bids are below $400/mt FOB [for Iran], while the target price in a tender was at $415/mt FOB,” a trader said. In such conditions, any price increase for slabs from Russia will hardly be achievable in Asia.
