Steel billet prices in most markets declined over the week to Friday June 21, with buyers showing little interest in material while scrap prices trended lower.
Fastmarkets' daily index for Northern Europe-origin scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20) was $273.10 per tonne cfr on Friday June 21, down from $283.65 per tonne cfr on the same day last week.In such conditions most customers either lowered their bids for billets or preferred to maintain a wait-and-see position on the expectation of further price drops.CIS, MenaThe Commonwealth of Independent of States (CIS) export billet price neared $410 per tonne fob Black Sea by the end of the week, as was expected, showing an almost $15-per-tonne drop week on week.Earlier in the week, CIS mills targeted $425 per tonne fob Back Sea, following a sale of Ukraine-origin billet to Algeria at $445 per tonne cfr ($425 per tonne fob Black Sea).After the sharp drop in import scrap prices in Turkey, the workable price slipped below $415 per tonne fob Black Sea.A 50,000-tonne cargo of Ukrainian billet was sold to Saudi Arabia...