Ex-CIS billet export activity has remained dull since the negative sentiment which prevailed last week has even intensified further. Moreover, some new negative factors like the sizeable decrease of import scrap prices in Turkey have emerged this week, bringing sentiment down further. Pricewise, the billet situation has also weakened, although overall there is not too much supply in the market and mills are not in much of a rush to sell, at least for now.
Official ex-CIS billet offers from producers have been ranging at $605-620/mt FOB this week, although the workable level is estimated at closer to $600-605/mt FOB. The available volumes for January shipments are quite limited for now and some mills have already sold out for February. However, the majority of buyers show limited interest in material with such a long lead time, SteelOrbis understands. “There is no billet and buyers are not interested in February,” a producer said.
At the end of the past week a 50,000 mt lot of ex-Ukraine billet was traded to Saudi Arabia at $605/mt FOB. This week, there has been market talk about another lot to the same destination at $575/mt FOB, which was disproved as a done deal by Saudi-based buyers, though they admitted this is a desirable level for them. “It could not be verified but it makes sense. I think this $600 level is probably a theoretical level. But I’m not sure there are sales at these levels. We are dealing only with rumours,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
In Turkey, offers have been at $645-660/mt CFR with hardly any feedback from buyers, who are reluctant to import due to the financial situation in Turkey and the downturn in the rebar and scrap segments. Some bids were at $600-610/mt CFR, but those were not considered serious by the sellers. In the meantime, the market in Egypt remains silent as the buyers there had restocked enough earlier and are expected to return with new orders in one to two weeks.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-CIS billet has settled at $600-605/mt FOB with the midpoint $602.5/mt FOB down $7.5/mt from last week.