The CIS hot-rolled coil export market remains in a lull, with the nearest availability from Russian mills for September rolling, while the Ukrainian supplier also appears to have closed its August rolling books by now. The latter was seen considering selling last of its August available volumes to China, but instead appears to have sold it in several smaller lots in other regions, traders tell Kallanish.

China's HRC prices continue rising, and at $475/tonne cfr for Indian material, CIS HRC is likely to fetch around $460-465/t cfr. This would net back to around $420-425/t fob Black Sea, considering the possibility of combined shipment for lower freight rates.

Last time CIS producers were actively in the market was early July. China was bidding $430-440/t cfr, netting back to $400-410/t fob - around $10-20/t below mills' price idea, forcing mills to wait for prices to rise. Instead of selling to China at lower level, they went to Gulf Cooperation Council states, where demand for HRC remains high and supports prices at $470-490/t cfr, depending on grade and volume. Latin America was also in the market for HRC, along with Europe, where sales continued, albeit at a slow pace, supported by stronger Euro affording more imports. Turkey has not booked as much HRC as was expected, focussing on domestic supply instead, but it bought some material, at around $435-445/t cfr, around two weeks ago. 

In Southeast Asia, there is decent demand coming out of Vietnam, but other importers are still on the fence, sources say. CIS material of September rolling will be arriving in Asia in December, and buyers are still cautious to book far ahead, traders say, despite prices being workable for CIS mills to sell there right now. But lack of August rolling availability is preventing sales, as Russian largest producer's output was cut by half by a series of major upgrades to steelmaking and rolling facilities, and with the advent of domestic demand there are practically no volumes left to sell in the export market. 

With no active offers of CIS HRC in the market, Chinese import price remains a benchmark, at around $420-425/t fob. GCC paid around $430-435/t fob net back, along with Latin America, traders say. CIS mills are expected to enter the market with September balances in the beginning of August.