Prices for ex-Russia billet have been continuously falling as suppliers have been still trying to push volumes overseas. The gap between the tradable levels for the material from Russia to Turkey and Egypt has widened even further with the latest lower offers and deals heard in the market, SteelOrbis has learned.
Early this week, a deal for 20,000 mt of ex-Russia billet to Egypt has come to light as having been done at $685/mt CFR last week. This is down $15-20/mt from the previous contract reported to the country for ex-Russia material, both were with LC payment, according to preliminary information. This new deal price level corresponds to about $635-640/mt FOB. Even after a further decrease, this level is higher than that discussed by Russia in Turkey, its major customer for the past month.
After some small-volume deals done at $650/mt CFR to Turkey last week and one rumoured at $645/mt CFR, one of the large Russian mills has offered to the same Karabuk-based customers at $642/mt CFR, which, however, has not led to a deal so far. At the same time, a mill from Izmir has been in negotiations with Russia at $635/mt CFR, and, even though there has been no confirmation about a contract done at this level, market sources are not excluding that a deal has been done. “We all need to see some scrap bookings to say that we will stop at this level or not,” a Turkish source told SteelOrbis.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet is at $590-640/mt FOB, widening down from $600-640/mt FOB late last week. The midpoint is at $615/mt FOB.