Black Sea
billet export offers remain sparse, despite ongoing support for higher prices
from scrap’s stable-to-rising trend, as well as a genuine increase in enquiries
for Russian billet this month.
Since the EU included in its latest sanctions a grace period for
imports of semi-finished steel from Russia, more buyers appear to
be willing to consider Russian material, market participants tell Kallanish.
Russian billet suppliers are largely absent from the market at
present, as some claim to be sold out until December-loading availability,
while others are selling on a shorter-lead-time, higher-price basis. Russia’s
domestic market for long steel products also appears to be relatively robust.
Coupled with output restrictions being implemented, this means mills are
running with two-month lead times, unless they prefer to sell on a prompt
basis, market participants say.
Offers of Russian billet largely circled $590-600/tonne cfr
Turkey for small prompt lots, sold at around $590-595/t cfr, netting back to
$550-555/t fob Black Sea. This is roughly in line with $540-550/t fob for
longer-lead-timed offers two weeks ago, which resulted in sales at around
$530-540/t fob, closing one mill’s books until December. Another, EAF-based
mill's offers at $560/t fob for November-loading material earlier this month
were not successful, while small lots of eastern Ukrainian material at $500-510/t
fob were partially accepted.
Demand remains relatively stable in Turkey, almost non-existent
in Egypt, and tentative in other Middle East/North Africa destination, largely
hinging on price and freight rates. There is also stable but sparser business
to the Gulf Cooperation Council, at lower prices, as much larger volumes
are sold there and the competition is stronger, with alternative supply
available from Asia and the region. Higher freight rates are also
pressuring sellers to remain mindful of fob price flexibility, squeezed on the
other side by ever-rising costs, traders note.
Overall, with scrap exceeding $370/t cfr Turkey for premium
HMS 1/2 80:20 material, both Russian and Turkish billet prices are supported,
with the latter now far in excess of the $600/t available in late September. No
firm offers from Turkish mills were heard in the past week, but indications are
at $620-630/t fob Turkey, while domestic offers are already pushing $640-650/t
ex-works, market sources conclude.