Black Sea and Turkish billet export prices slipped this week
as a fragile economic outlook pushed buyers to delay purchases and weaker raw
material costs made it possible for producers to lower their offers.
Traders quoted Black Sea billet at $605-$615/MT
free-on-board (fob) Russia and Ukraine, compared to $620-$640 three weeks ago.
Turkish billet was at $625-$630/MT FOB from $660/MT at the beginning of this
month.
Many buyers of billet a long steel semi-finished product
used into construction delayed their bookings, thinking that further price decrease
was likely to give economic uncertainty.
“There are many questions on the physical side;
traditionally this time of year is the bottom of the market and there is
limited scrap in the U.S. but, on the other hand, demand for rebar remains
weak,” a U.S.-based billet trader said.
“With scrap at the bottom and the uncertainty in the
financial markets, we will get a better picture by the end of this week or the
beginning of next.”
On the London Metal Exchange, the benchmark billet contract
was at $520/540 a tonne, from $559.21 a tonne at the close last Tuesday.
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