Posted on 25 Nov 2019
Prices of hot rolled coil from Russia and Ukraine remained on the rising curve last week, as they gained about $10-15/tonne compared to the week earlier, Kallanish hears.
A Ukrainian producer closed several deals to Turkey and North Africa at $415-425/t cfr at the beginning of last week, before prices gained another $5/t towards the end of the week. This nets back to around $400-405/t fob Black Sea on average.
A Russian supplier, whose offers at $410/t fob a week prior looked hard to achieve to some traders, has closed its December and some January allocations with some sales at this level. It subsequently exited the market, having sold at least one 40,000t lot to Vietnam at the equivalent of around $405//t fob Black Sea. The producer is not offering second-half January production volumes as yet in anticipation of higher prices in December.
The ex-Baltic shipping Russian supplier has also ramped up its mainly Europe-orientated offers, and closed some sales, meaning its December-rolling books are now closed, sources say.
Turkey’s import market remains vibrant as domestic prices continue to rise, and the earliest delivery available is February (see separate article). But there is a limit to how much Turkish re-rollers and pipemakers will be willing to pay for CIS material, which incurs a 9% duty, while European material at low prices is not available to purchase any more.
Southeast Asia is slowly catching up with the rest of the major steel-importing regions with prices quoted at $440-450/t cfr for imported material, depending on the grade and supplier. But buyers are still exercising caution, and the volumes of Russian HRC bookings have been small, although they are expected to increase in early December, traders note.
