Export prices for Russian and Ukrainian hot and cold rolled coil have increased in the past week, mainly on the back of strong China-origin prices. It is anticipated that CIS mills will attempt to raise prices again this week, market participants tell Kallanish.

Russian mills have raised asking prices by $10-20/tonne on-week at the beginning of last week and later have reduced their offers by some $10/t. HRC offers were heard at $480-495/t fob for the Middle East and $490-505/t fob for the Far East. CRC export offers were at $550-560/t fob, depending on the region.

A booking for Russia-origin HRC was heard in the UAE at around $480/t fob and another deal was heard in Turkey at $490/t cfr ($470/t fob). Also, high Chinese prices have helped Russian producers improve their positions in some East Asian markets, sources say.

A Russian mill has almost sold out its April-delivery HRC, while CRC is still unsold. The situation at another Russian mill is the opposite - its order book for CRC is almost filled and HRC is unsold, a trader informs.

Ukraine-origin export offers were at around $470-480/t fob for HRC and $540-560/t fob for CRC in the past week. The tendency is for the prices to increase, a producer-side source informs. Large deals from Ukraine were not heard. "Business is limited, mills have problems with delivery," a trader comments.

Metinvest's raw material procurement and finished steel shipments are disrupted since early last week. The company suspended production at Yenakiieve Steel and coking coal producing subsidiary Krasnodon Coal on account of the railway blockade in eastern Ukraine (see Kallanish 22 February). Another source expects this situation in Ukraine to be resolved in the short term, and thus foresees either a limited or no impact on coil exports.

The on-week increase in CIS-origin HRC and CRC export prices, especially to the Far East, was rather driven by rising export offers of Chinese mills than by raw material prices, according to sources. Also, there was some improvement in demand in some parts of the Middle East.

The interviewed sources expect CIS mills to raise their export offer prices for HRC and CRC from this week. The move will be supported by strong Chinese coil and raw material prices, and the expected increase in demand and domestic prices in some regions.