Demand for CIS billet in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region early in the week that began on Monday October 5 supported billet sellers in the CIS region, which have been faced with a lack of trading activity in most outlets recently.
Customers in the Middle East-North Africa (Mena) region and Asia have adopted a wait-and-see position over the past seven days amid uncertainty about the price trend in the Turkish scrap sector as well as a week-long national holiday in China.
*** CIS billet
The latest bids for CIS-origin billet from Turkey were heard within the range of $415-420 per tonne cfr, which would be equivalent to $400-405 per tonne fob Black Sea. In North Africa, buyers were looking for prices no higher than $420 per tonne cfr, which would correspond to $400 per tonne fob.
One trader said that he had managed to sell billet from the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) to China at $440 per tonne cfr this week, despite the holiday.
“Considering that there is a 2% duty on non-Asean material in China, the workable price for a CIS-origin cargo would be around $432 per tonne cfr [at least $397 per tonne fob Black Sea],” he said.
But CIS mills continued to insist on offers within the range of $410-420 per tonne fob Black Sea, depending on destination, being in no hurry to start sales from their November allocations.
*** Ukrainain billet
Finally, a 50,000-tonnes billet cargo of Ukraine origin was reported sold to Qatar earlier this week at $452 per tonne cfr, which would be equivalent to $412 per tonne fob Black Sea.
Market participants divided into two camps on this trade. Some considered that such a price was paid only because no other seller could provide such a large volume at the moment. Others described the price as reasonable, referring to comparatively higher offers from other CIS mills and other countries.
Another Ukrainain mill offered billet slightly below $460 per tonne cfr to Qatar, while Russia-origin material was available at $462 per tonne cfr through traders.
In the neighboring United Arab Emirates, Oman-origin billet has been heard booked at $460 per tonne cfr over the past seven days.
Some market participants expected the Chinese market for semi-finished steel products to strengthen on their return from the holiday that ends this week, amid scheduled production cuts for the autumn-winter period as well as a stronger futures market.
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