During the 15th week of the year the CIS export market for scrap and billets saw some decreasing trends due to pressure from consumers. As for the flats and longs markets, the price hike performed by the CIS flats producers at the beginning of last week pushed HR export prices upward. Meanwhile, export quotations for longs retained their previous levels. In the domestic markets, the lessening pressure from the export market allowed Russian domestic scrap consumers to start the process of price lowering. In Ukraine, on the other hand, the main steelmakers kept their procurement scrap prices at the previous week's level. As regards the finished products sector, a rising trend continued in both the Russian and Ukrainian domestic longs markets during the 15th week, while mixed trends were seen in CIS domestic flats.
Scrap: prices see a drop
During the 15th week of the year, the Black Sea region scrap market was characterized by a decreasing trend in regard to ex-CIS A3 grade scrap. During the week in question, A3 grade scrap saw a further price fall of $5-10/mt and was offered to the Turkish market at $345/mt CFR. However, even this considerably lowered level did not attract prospective buyers, who continued to press for even lower levels.
The Russian domestic scrap market started on a declining movement during the 15th week. The reduced pressure from the export markets allowed the domestic steelmakers in the European part of the country to revise their procurement scrap prices downward. Thus, in the course of the week, several Russian domestic producers decreased their procurement scrap price by Ruble 100-300/mt ($4-12/mt).Yet, last week's price decrease, though it allowed for a small relaxation of the tensions in the market, occurred within the existing scrap price level of Ruble 5,900-7,800/mt ($227-300/mt). It can be predicted that, as the export markets further release their pressure on the Russian domestic scrap market, domestic scrap users will push their prices down further.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian scrap market, which had been showing some weakening signs during the 14th week, had a stable 15th week.
Long products: Russian domestic market gaining speed
During the week ended April 15, the slowdown in activity started to be very obvious in the CIS export markets, in particular in the Middle East and Gulf region. Although much of the Russian-origin billet supply continued to find the best sales in the domestic market, those of Ukrainian origin started to decrease slightly in the export markets during the 15th week. For the week in question, the export quotation for Ukrainian-origin billets decreased by $5-10/mt.
The CIS longs export market started to show signs of stabilization during the week ended April 15. After the slight positive corrections which were observed during the 14th week, no changes in the CIS exporters' price policies were seen in the week in question. It seems that the CIS export markets have adopted a wait-and-see policy in the light of the weakening of the billet market and the changes in the Chinese export rebate policy.
The price rise in the Russian domestic market continued in the 15th week of the year. This price rise was supported by both domestic demand and by the price hikes performed by the domestic longs producers at the beginning of the month. In the course of the week, the rebar price increased by $10-15/mt, while the wire rod price went up by $10-12/mt. Meanwhile, structural steel increased by a higher margin, by on average $10-30/mt, in the Russian retail market.
The Ukrainian domestic longs market continued to follow its strong trend during the week ended April 15. Thus, the rebar price went up on average UAH 50/mt ($10/mt), angle increased by an average of UAH 20/mt ($4), while beam and channel bar rose by UAH 60/mt ($12/mt) each.
Flat rolled: producers up their export and domestic prices
During the 15th week, the CIS flats export market was characterized by a price increasing trend regarding HR and plates. Following the price increase announcement of the CIS producers at the beginning of last week, many CIS exporters increased their prices for HR products by $30/mt. However, since the producers' quotations for CR products have not undergone significant changes, ex-CIS export offers for the flat product in question were not corrected. On the other hand, the strong demand for plate from the export market seems to be the main determining factor in the rise of its price, which equaled $10/mt during the week ended April 15.
The Russian domestic market was governed by a price increasing trend during the 15th week of the year. Due to the large price increase introduced by the domestic producers during the week in question (for instance MMK hiked its prices for some flat products almost by $100/mt for Ural regions), traders also hiked their prices by a considerable margin. Thus, the HR price increased by $20-25/mt, galvanized steel went up by $10-12/mt, while the CR price retained its previous level.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian domestic flats market continued to follow mix trends according to the various products during the week ended April 15. Thus, the HR price showed an increase of UAH 30/mt ($6/mt), the CR price increased by UAH16/mt ($3/mt), while galvanized steel did not undergo significant corrections in price. Market experts predict that HR prices will continue to rise throughout the current month due to the modernization of HR facilities performed by some mills and the resulting temporary reduction in production levels.