Last week CIS billet prices appeared to be consolidating despite the challenging scrap price dynamic in Turkey and relatively low demand in the last two weeks. But a large sale of Ukrainian material amid the first signs of China's demand returning last week confirmed the trend indicating that the current price levels are stabilising. 

A Ukrainian supplier sold a 50,000-tonne cargo to the Gulf Cooperation Council at $452/tonne cfr GCC port, netting back to around $412/t fob Black Sea. This is in the $410-415/t range at which mills had been holing offers. 

November availability is not vast among CIS producers, especially those able to supply large volumes, for which more demand is expected imminently from the Middle East. Smaller parcels are also in demand, but at around $440/t cfr – North African buyers are negotiating with Iberian suppliers, whose offers are at €370-375/t ($437-443) cfr, traders note.