Saturday, December 18,
Black Sea billet prices rose further this week as scrap pushed higher and they were seen increasing even more towards year end.
Traders quoted Black Sea free-on-board (fob) billet at around $580-$610 a tonne this week, from prices around $570-$605 last week.
Scrap prices in Turkey, one of the world’s top consumers of the steel-making feed, have been holding above the $410 mark, with some traders even quoting numbers around $430-$450. “The market is firming and it looks like it’s going to firm further mainly because it’s cold and scrap is firming,” one trader said.
“If the weather worsens and the expectation is that there is going to be even tighter supply, the price of scrap will go up, forcing billet up as well.”
Chinese steel prices remained steady this week despite bitter winter temperatures, but traders are not expecting sudden jumps in the coming weeks as construction activity in northern China slows.
“Prices are going up. With the combination of a lack of availability and raw material price increases, we see prices increasing,” another trader said of Black Sea free-on-board (fob) billet.
Source: Reuters
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