During the 14th week of the current year, the majority of products were governed by stabilizing trends in the CIS export markets, while some - such as scrap - saw decreasing tendencies. The only ex-CIS export products which underwent positive price corrections during the week in question were plate and structural steel, under the influence of strong export demand. On the domestic fronts, the Russian domestic market saw an upward trend regarding all production groups, mainly due to strong demand for steel from the construction sector. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian domestic market followed separate trends for the different product segments - decreasing in scrap, rising in longs, with a mixed trend seen in flats.
Scrap: build-up of stocks halts export price rise
During the 14th week, the Black Sea region scrap market was characterized by low activity in regard to purchases of A3 grade scrap, accompanied by a decrease trend in the price of the material. It could be said that the main consumers of Russian and Ukrainian origin scrap have finally come to their senses and are now no longer ready to accept scrap price hikes unconditionally. The decrease in the purchase activity of the main steel producers in the region signified the slowdown of the scrap reserve building process, with the result that the price of CIS-origin scrap has started to slide downward. Thus, during the first week of April, CIS-origin A3 grade scrap prices showed a negative correction in the amount of $5-10/mt.
On the other hand, the Russian domestic scrap market continued its upward trend during the week ended April 9. Thus, several mills in the Ural region hiked their procurement prices for A3 grade scrap by Ruble 200-600/mt ($8-23/mt). As a result, the new scrap price was established at a level of $5,900-7,800/mt ($227-300/mt).
The Ukrainian domestic market was stable during the 14th week, showing a slight decrease tendency in prices. With the slowing down of export activities, as well as the increasing levels of scrap stocks of local producers, Ukrainian steel mills even lowered their procurement scrap prices a little during the first week of April.
Long Products: Russian domestic market attracting more and more material
During the week ended April 9, the CIS billet export market changed little from the previous week. Thus, due to decreasing demand for billets in some external markets, in addition to the very strong demand in the Russian domestic market, not much material of CIS-origin was seen in the export markets. Meanwhile, the price of Russian and Ukrainian billets retained its level of the previous week.
As far as long products are concerned, during the 14th week of the year Russian-origin longs were almost nonexistent in the export markets due to very strong domestic market that is expected to rise further. Meanwhile, Ukrainian-origin longs showed a positive price correction during the week in question. In addition, structural steel of the same origin continued to rise in price in the export markets, increasing last week by $40/mt.
The Russian domestic longs market continued to increase in strength during the 14th week of the year. The rebar price increased by $8/mt, wire rod rose by $2/mt, while angle and beam prices went up by $3/mt each.
The Ukrainian domestic longs market did not lag behind its Russian counterpart during the first week of April. In particular, rebar, channel bar, beam and angle prices all continued to rise, increasing respectively by UAH 55/mt ($11/mt), UAH 30/mt ($6/mt), UAH 40/mt ($8/mt) and UAH 90/mt ($18/mt).
Flat rolled: strong demand for plates pushes export prices up
During the 14th week, the CIS flats export market saw some negative correction in regard to hot rolled products. On the other hand, the market for plates, especially for shipbuilding plate, continued to be very strong worldwide, pushing the prices of CIS-origin products upward. Thus, compared to the 13th week price, ex-CIS plates became more expensive by $30/mt in the course of last week.
The Russian domestic flats market saw some positive price correction during the week ended April 9. Current flats demand in Russia is mainly supported by the construction sector. However, since flats are not the primary products for the sector in question, the domestic prices for these materials are not that strong compared to domestic longs. In the course of the week increases of $7/mt and $10/mt were registered for HR and CR respectively.
The Ukrainian domestic market was governed by a mixed trend during the week ended April 9. On the one hand, an increase of UAH 40/mt ($8/mt) was registered for HR. On the other, CR and galvanized steel decreased in price respectively by UAH 10/mt ($2/mt) and UAH 20/mt ($4/mt).