During the 34th week (August 18-24) of 2008, both the CIS domestic and export markets registered negative tendencies. In the export segment, barely any offers of CIS-origin scrap, billet or longs were seen in the market. On the other hand, export quotations of flat steel ex-CIS continued to decrease.
As for the domestic markets, the Russian domestic market for all products in question continued its negative price movements, while the Ukrainian domestic market started to enter a decrease trend during the week ended August 24.
Scrap: CIS domestic markets for A3 grade scrap show negative trends
During the 34th week of 2008, the Black Sea region scrap market saw barely any offers of ex-CIS scrap. Due to the increase in the export base price for scrap from Russia to $510/mt FOB, A3 grade scrap from Russia is becoming uncompetitive in the international market, losing its position to scrap offers from East European countries, Europe and the US.
Meanwhile, scrap prices in the Russian domestic market continued to see a reduction during the week ended August 24. Due to the considerable reduction in export offers as well as the full stocks of the domestic steelmakers, A3 grade scrap saw a decrease of Ruble 300-600/mt ($12-24/mt), depending on the region, during the week in question.
In Ukraine, the prices for A3 grade scrap saw signs of stabilization after having risen during the previous week. Moreover, some mills lowered their procurement scrap prices slightly during the 34th week.
Longs: CIS domestic markets register drop in prices
Due to the global decreasing trend which has been dominating the billet and longs markets for quite some time, not so many offers from the CIS have been seen latterly. The exporters were still refraining from giving offer quotes for exports of both rebar and billets, trying to wait instead until the regeneration of the Middle East and Gulf markets which is expected toward the end of September.
The Russian domestic longs market continued to register a decline in longs prices during the period in question. The prices for rebar in the Russian domestic market dropped Ruble 600-900/mt ($24-36/mt), depending on the region, during last week.
The Ukrainian domestic longs market, which had been showing only positive movements in prices for a couple of weeks, saw a switch to a contrary price trend during the 34th week. On the back of low demand, the rebar price in Ukraine decreased by UAH 20/mt ($4/mt) on average during the week in question.
Flats: Prices in both international and domestic flat markets maintain decline
On the back of low demand and the global slowdown in flat steel purchases, CIS exporters continue to decrease their export offers. The offers for HRC have already dropped below the $1,000/mt FOB level while CRC offers are just above this threshold.
Just as in the Russian longs market, this country's flats market has continued to post a weakening trend. During the week in question, HR declined Ruble 200/mt ($8/mt) and CR dropped Ruble 300/mt ($12/mt) in the Russian domestic market.
The Ukrainian domestic flats market also registered a negative trend during the week ended August 24. The price for HR dropped UAH 20-30/mt ($4-7/mt) depending on the region, while CR went down UAH 5-10/mt ($1-2/mt), also depending on the region.