<span>On the back of recent events in the market for semis and ferrous scrap, where prices have started falling, exporters of CIS longs are in no hurry to open sales of March production. <br> At the same time, situation is still tense in the Middle East, and sinking prices for Turkish output (some $25/t down in a week) keep aggravating it. In particular, Turkish rebar and wire rod are now available at $650-665/t FOB and $670-685/t FOB, respectively. Some Turkish mills are already planning to lift prices for rebar to $690/t FOB and for wire rod – to $700/t FOB, though they are unlikely to succeed, considering falling quotations of scrap. <br> Currently, only Belarus SW and Metinvest International S.A. are offering March production of longs from the Azov-Black Sea ports, at $670-680/t FOB. However, they have had to reduce offers by about $25-40/t over the past month, and are not planning to decrease quotations any further. In particular, Belarus SW opened sales of rebar at $670/t FOB ($25/t down m-o-m) on February 7. Buyers insist on dropping the prices to about $640-650/t FOB, but the producer is holding its offers steady. <br> ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is expected to announce prices for March output of longs in mid-February. The manufacturer has already been testing Romanian buyers of wire rod with EUR 550/t DAP this week, EUR 10-15/t up from three weeks ago. Naturally, the buyers showed no interest in the offers, and the producer is expected to come back to the market next week with more reasonable prices. <br> Russian suppliers of wire rod from the Far Eastern and Caspian ports are still out of the market. EvrazHolding is expected to start offering its March rolling of longs in mid-February only. Market participants expect that their initial prices will be $710-715/t FOB. <br> ( Source: <a href="http://www.metalexpert-group.com/"><span><u><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">www.metalexpert-group.com</font></u></span></a> )</span>