Prices for hot- and cold-rolled steel sheet and heavy plate in Russia’s Central Federal District continued to slide due to the high availability of material in the domestic market and limited export opportunities in the week to Monday September 6, sources told Fastmarkets.
Market participants have become used to falling prices and mills' weekly - or even twice-weekly - price changes since the first half of July.
Stockists were doing trades only in small volumes to replenish particular items or in the case of confirmed (back-to-back) deals. Participants have held back from significant restocking because of falling prices as well as the approaching low-construction season (November-February).
Increased domestic availability of hot- and cold-rolled (HR and CR) sheet has been mainly due to export duty. With $115 per tonne for HR and $133 per tonne for CR products on the top of export prices, exporting has become less attractive.
Offers of HR plate were more balanced with demand, in contrast to HR sheet in the week to September 6, sources said.