CIS Plants Fight Against Falling Steel Billet Prices

Over the past month, CIS enterprises have been waging a difficult struggle against weak demand and a huge amount of supplies at very cheap offers from China. It became known that Ukrainian and Russian factories are trying to keep prices for billets around $ 500 per tonne FOB, but without much success. The pressure from the Chinese blanks is still pretty strong. At the same time, market data points to prices well below $ 500 /t CFR for Turkish ports.

At the same time, Turkish factories, on the contrary, maintain exports at $ 520 per ton, receiving scrap imports at $ 355 per ton, CFR for Turkish ports. The price level declined by $ 3 per tonne during the week and by $ 15 per tonne during the month, creating a downtrend. However, more serious changes are expected after the Turkish holidays are over.

The prevailing export price is $ 480 /t, FOB, Black Sea, but buyers say this will guarantee the necessary order flow. In addition, many Ukrainian producers are still forced to restrict production due to the difficult situation in the country and supply disruptions.

In addition, BMZ's capacities are undergoing regular servicing, which should last another 30 days. Therefore, it is possible that when all enterprises in the region return to production and supply in full, the procurement market is likely to collapse.