As expected, CIS exporters of flats have been forced to make reductions considering buyers resist Russian mills’ prices for March production so strongly. As a result, although foreign buyers make some purchases, quotations of Russian HRC keep falling (down about $10-65/t from two weeks ago). Moreover, traders report suppliers are ready to sell even cheaper if buyers show interest in the material. At the same time, Ukrainian sellers are not active so far and prefer to wait for a while until the situation becomes clear. However, they will have to cut offers by about $20-30/t m-o-m to be able to compete with Russian traders somehow, market players believe.
Russia''s Severstal is reportedly offering HRC of April production at $750/t FOB St. Petersburg, by $65/t lower than official March prices. To Europe, the material has lost EUR 20/t ($27/t at the exchange rate EUR 1 = $1.38).
Offers of HRC from MMK to the countries in which quotas on imports are not imposed are set at about $750/t FOB Novorossiysk, $10-20/t down from two weeks ago. The supplier has also lowered quotations by EUR 20-25/t ($27-34/t) to buyers from Eastern and Central Europe (from Poland and Slovakia particularly). Moreover, MMK reportedly plans to export some CRC this time.
Besides, 2-8 mm HRC from OMK-Steel is being offered at $780/t FOB Novorossiysk
Market participants claim that export prices for Ilyich’s HRC to be rolled in April have gone down by $5-10/t to $730-740/t FOB Odessa. However, no deals have been reported yet.
Official export prices for April production from Zaporizhstal have not been released yet.
( Source: www.metalexper-group.com )