CIS mills are fighting losing battle against weak demand and plenty supply from China at dirt cheap offers from China.

It is learnt that Ukrainian and mainly Russian mills are trying to keep prices around USD 500 per tonne FOB but with scarce or no success at all.

The pressure of Chinese billets is still quite strong as market rumors are indicating of prices well below USD 500 per tonne CFR FO Turkish ports. Turkish mills on the contrary are maintaining export offers at USD 520 per tonne which is grossly over-priced compared to import levels of scrap at USD 355 per tonne, CFR Turkish port. The price level declined by USD 3 per tonne WoW and USD 15 per tonne MoM indicating downtrend.

However the shocker is expected after the Turkish holiday ends on 8th October. Export price prevailing at USD 480 per tonne, FOB, Black Sea however the buyers are saying that not even this number will be sufficient to guarantee the needed flow of orders.

On top, considering that many Ukrainian producer are still bounded by war damages and left with very poor production and delivery capacity + that BMZ is under an extraordinary maintenance period that should last another 30 days, is rather clear that whenever all region’s Mills will back to full production and delivery and remaining the economic situation around the Mediterranean as of today, the billet market (and not only) will possibly collapse.