RUSSIAN steel plants say domestic sales of rebar are more attractive than exports at the moment, given the higher profitability of domestic sales and the construction season in Russia being at its peak. Most plants for which rebar is not the main type of business, such as Severstal, MMK and Mechel, say they are only exporting small quantities of rebar, preferring to concentrate on flats, which are currently more profitable, or on domestic sales of rebar. The current spread of export prices for rebar and wire rod is very wide. While MMK sells wire rod as low as 155-160 dollars/t fob Caspian Sea to Iran, prices for rebar are more than 210 dollars/t fob Baltic Sea to the US. Prices for rebar and wire rod are reported to be slightly higher than in June-July, but still within the range of 180-190 dollars/t fob Black Sea.
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