CIS round billet producers continue to increase quotations because of higher raw material prices. Offers of September production billet from Russia's OEMK are being given to the Ukrainian market at $430-450/mt DAF, up by $50/mt from the levels for August production material ($380-400/mt DAF). Offers of round billet from Ukraine's Dneprovsky (Dzerzhinsky) to Ukrainian mills are being given at $420-430/mt ex-works, compared to $360-380/mt ex-works last month. Export quotations of round billets from the CIS are in the range of $440-460/mt FOB for material produced in September. However, the abovementioned prices are not final and could possibly see a further increase due to the continued strength of scrap prices.
As a result of the upward trend in round billet prices, export offers of Ukrainian seamless pipe producer Interpipe for September-October production have risen by a maximum of $90/mt compared with the prices for August production. Export prices from Interpipe for September-October production hot-formed seamless pipes of 57-219 mm diameter, of 10, 20 steel grades, as per GOST 8731/8732, are varying in the range of $850-870/mt FOB, with 273-325mm diameter pipes in the range of $900-970/mt FOB Black Sea ports, depending on the destination. 2"-8" seamless pipes of grade B, as per ASTM A106/API 5L, are offered by the same producer at an average of $870-900/mt FOB, with 10"-12" sizes at $930-1,000/mt FOB.
Ukrainian producer Dnipropetrovsk Tube Works has maintained its export quotations at the previous levels, but will definitely increase its prices when its negotiations with billet suppliers are completed. This producer's export offers of September production seamless pipes with diameter of 57-168 mm made from steel grade 10, 20 according to GOST 8731/8732 are at $750-770/mt FOB.
Russian pipemaker TMK, which uses its own round billet as feedstock, is not raising its prices for the moment, but could increase them soon amid the rising prices of Ukrainian material. Export prices for seamless hot-formed pipes with diameter up to 425 mm of 10, 20 steel grade made to GOST 8731/8732 from TMK's subsidiaries Volzhsky Pipe Plant and Taganrog Pipe Plant are at about $750-770/mt FOB.
Export offers from Russian pipemaker Uraltrubostal for seamless hot-formed pipes of 57-219 mm diameter, made to GOST are at $700-720/mt FOB, for October-November output. Quotations of the same pipes made to ASTM/API are varying in the range of $720-750/mt FOB. A representative of Uraltrubostal told SteelOrbis, "We are booked with orders until October-November, but now we have stopped and are uncertain on the issue of giving prices of seamless pipes due to the prices of billets. The construction of our own steelmaking plant has been put off because of the crisis and we still have to buy billets from metallurgical plants. We were not expecting to raise export prices but this will depend on the final prices of round billets."