Daily Steel News - 4 Mar 09

Turkey's section steel prices fall
Turkey's section steel prices continued to drop to US$480-490/ton from last week's US$490-510/ton.

Chinese wire rod prices head downwards, bottom may be near
Some traders, however, think prices have reached the bottom. In Beijing, prices of 6.5mm drawing quality wire rod have dropped to RMB 3,340-3,360/tonne ($489-492/t), down by more than RMB 100/t since only 2 March. Shanghai traders are offering RMB3,280-3,300/t, down by about RMB 50/t compared with 2 March.
Export prices offered by a Chinese mill is $520/t fob for wire rod destined mainly for the Japanese market. It is also believed that China has even lower offers at about $500/t fob, which are still high compared with offers from overseas of about $460/t cfr south-east Asia.

Russia offer lower billet prices
It is reported that Russia is offering US$360/ton c&f for 5SP billet to the Philippines.

U.S. billet prices continue to fall
The US billet market remains very weak, with just a few isolated deals concluded.Current billet price reached US$441~468/ton , down by US$28/ton compared with last month.As for global market, because of steel products' weak demand in the EU and CIS, billet's prices fell by about US$80/ ton. CIS billet price currently is being prevailing at US$320~330/ton while Turkey's billet price is US$360~370/ton.

Turkish buyers return to scrap market
There are signs showing that Turkish buyers have returned the scrap market. The Turkish mills recently bought 3 ships’ scrap from Europe, at US$220-235/ton on CFR basis. US also offers US$250~260/ton for HMS scrap (NO1&NO2). It’s forecasted that the price will slide by US$30/ton.
In East Asian market, China has stopped importing scrap and most Korean mills also delay the purchase plan.