The CIS billet export market continues to be stagnate, having
failed to gain momentum on the back of recent modest strengthening. From the
recently achieved levels of $580/MT and offers of $585/MT fob Black Sea,
prices have slid back to the bottom levels of $575-580/MT fob Black Sea, said market
sources.
The market is not very active right now but most of the mills are still offering December production, although some of them were rumored to have closed their order book earlier by restricting availability by lowering sales & production plan.
Whereas, The tonnages offered to the market from Russian producers are
end-December/January load readiness, whilst Ukrainian billet is still available
a little earlier. However, European suppliers, on the back of a relatively weak
euro, are offering now at $570/t (€420/t) fob Gibraltar which, though not much
better in terms of price, gains in terms of delivery – late-December load
readiness is still available, sources say, adding that European mills from
Germany, France and Spain are trying to “get quick cash” before the
end of the year.
Leave a Reply