Plate export quotations, which have been stable for a long period of time, started to move down in CIS market too. So, amid falling demand from foreign customers, aggravated by high inventories in the region, positions of most CIS plate exporters have slightly weakened. As a result, quotations of CIS material have dropped in a month by $10-20/t. Nevertheless, suppliers are rather optimistic, thinking they will manage to keep prices unchanged till mid-June and even push them up a bit in the middle of next month. Buyers from Europe and the Middle East are still the most active. South African customers show less interest in the material, while in Turkey demand for plate is non-existent.
Offer prices for plate produced in late June-early July by Ilyich have gone down by an average of $10/t, compared to early-May levels. However, market players say contracts for the material may be signed at prices by $10-20/t lower.
Meanwhile, Alchevsk SW has already closed its sales of July output, but has not set prices for August rolling yet. Market participants say transaction prices for July output varied in the range $770-800/t FOB Odessa depending on volume, specifications and destination.
DMZ announced its official prices for June production in mid-May: they have remained generally unchanged from three weeks ago and thus are the most attractive to buyers. However, compared to the initial quotations of May output, the decrease has been some $20/t.
At the same time, June output from Asha SW (Russia) is still available at $670/t FCA, almost unchanged from May levels. Moreover, the company says most of May rolling allocated for exports (some 10,000 t) has been shipped to Baltic countries, Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Romania) and Iran.
( Source: www.metalexpert-group.com )