Despite bullish sentiments in the Turkish market and firm scrap prices over the past week, Russian billet exporters have failed to achieve higher deal prices so far. Turkish customers have been looking for duty-free origins mainly, while in the other sales destinations demand has not improved much and customers have been waiting for discounts.
The SteelOrbis' reference price for ex-Russia billet price has been reduced slightly to $610-620/mt FOB, with the midpoint at $615/mt FOB Black Sea, down by $5/mt from last week.
Most Russian suppliers have been insisting on the higher offers announced last week. Small volumes for March and April shipment from Rostov have been available at $645/mt CFR Turkey, which translates to $613-619/mt FOB depending on the freight. “There is no duty for Malaysia and some other origins, but I have not yet heard that Turkish buyers have confirmed $645/mt CFR in deals for billet from the Russian Federation,” a trader said.
Offers for larger volumes for April and May shipment billet from Russia have been absent this week, as suppliers have not been seeing demand and have decided to stay out of the market. Previously, the target level was heard at $620-630/mt FOB minimum or $645-660/mt CFR. “Russian billet prices can be supported only by the cancelation of import duty in Turkey, which is unlikely,” a seller commented. Bids for ex-Russia billet have been very few and not above $640/mt CFR Turkey or $610/mt FOB.
There have been reports in the market that one Russian seller has offered a lower price to Turkey, at $635/mt CFR, but no interest has been seen yet.
Together with no interest for ex-Russia billet, some small tonnage of ex-Georgia billet was traded at $660/mt DAP Izmir last week, with the higher price explained by the absence of 24 percent import duty on Georgian billet.
In North Africa, demand for import billet is still minimal. Only one deal for ex-Belarus billet for a short lead time has been reported as having been done to Egypt at $645/mt CFR, though this could not be confirmed by the time of publication. For April shipment and beyond, buyers are not ready to pay much above $600/mt CFR.
In the Far East, one of the Russian mills has traded a parcel of less than 30,000 mt of billet at $570/mt FOB Russian Far Eastern ports, while another large producer in the region has been asking for $595/mt FOB without any success.