<span>CIS export market for longs has been staying rather tense for three weeks due to falling scrap prices and unstable situation in semis segment. As demand for construction steel has dropped considerably in the Middle East, suppliers will hardly sell the material at last-week levels. Asian buyers have left for holidays while European customers have taken a wait-and-see mode, waiting for trend reversal. Thus, exporters are in no hurry to offer March production. They hope the situation will improve in mid February. <br> Moreover, positions of СIS suppliers, who are doing their best to prevent price collapse, are undermined by reductions from Turkish competitors, as they have been cutting offers for finished products for three weeks in a row. Quotations of Turkish rebar and wire rod have dropped by $10-15/t, to $675-690/t FOB and $685-700/t FOB, respectively, over the past week. It is mainly attributed to the recent events in Egypt, so exporters were forced to withdraw the material on the way to the country in order to sell it to other markets.<span> </span> <br> It is no wonder that in this situation Middle Eastern customers expect to receive substantial discounts from suppliers of CIS material as well. At the same time, currently rebar and wire rod can be bought only from traders at an average of $690/t FOB. <br> Offers of finished products (March production) from Belarus SW are expected on February 7 at earliest (around $690/t FOB for rebar), from ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih and Metinvest International S.A. – in the second half of the month. Ukrainian sellers, seeing the situation in Azov-Black Sea basin, will probably focus on sales to Eastern Europe, same as in January. Market participants believe initial prices for wire rod from Metinvest International S.A. will be $720-730/t DAP (March rolling). <br> Russia’s Evraz Holding is reportedly offering 80-200 mm UPN channel and 70-90x5 mm equal angle from Ukraine’s Petrovsky at $730-740/t FOB Izmail or $770/t DAP (March output). <br> Meanwhile, SE Asian market is quiet during the holidays. The latest sales of Evraz Holding wire rod (March production) have been at $740/t C&F ($715/t FOB). The supplier reportedly has no less than 10,000 t of the material left. It is likely that the seller will be able to keep prices up despite the current situation in semis segment. <br> Russian longs producers will hardly be selling their March production to the Caspian region amid strong demand for construction steel in Russia’s domestic market. <br> ( Source: <a href="http://www.metalexper-group.com/"><u><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Times New Roman">www.metalexper-group.com</font></u></a> )</span>