CIS STEEL BILLET: Recent bookings slow price drop, but sentiment still negative

摘要

Recent bookings of CIS-origin billet by customers in North Africa and by traders have helped to slow the downward trend seen in pricing in the week ended January 31. Nevertheless, market sentiment remained negative amid falling international prices for ferrous scrap as well as low demand for finished long steel products. Fastmarkets’ daily steel billet index, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $393 per tonne on Monday February 3, down by $1 day on day. A 20,000-tonnes cargo of premium and wire rod-grade billet from Ukraine was reported sold to Algeria at $418.50 per tonne cfr, sources have told Fastmarkets.