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After a month-long consultation period, Fastmarkets has suspended its export price assessment for rebar from the Black Sea because trade flows of the material have dropped significantly since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Following the loss of access to significant amounts of raw materials supplies and to port infrastructure, Ukrainian long steel producers have significantly reduced their rebar shipments.
According to data from the International Steel Statistical Bureau (ISSB), Ukraine exported a total of 94,903 tonnes of rebar in the first six months of 2022, compared with 482,924 tonnes over the corresponding period in 2021.
Port blockades have compelled Ukrainian steelmakers to use alternative transport options such as truck and rail, or shipment via the Black Sea ports in Romania and Bulgaria or the Baltic Sea ports in Poland.
This means that even the few volumes exported by Ukraine this year were not shipped from domestic ports so they could not be included in the calculation of Fastmarkets’ assessment.
There was no statistical data available about this year’s export shipments from Russia. Still, market sources reported to Fastmarkets that the export trade from Russia was also limited because buyers were fearful of trading sanctions.
The strengthening of the Russian rouble against the US dollar had led Russian sellers to try to divert rebar volumes to the domestic market.
As well, the introduction of sanctions against Russia changed the basis on which products were shipped from the country. Because many international shipping companies would not call at Russian ports or take payment from Russia, product delivery became the responsibility of the seller, and contracts began to be signed on a cfr basis, instead of the mostly fob basis used previously. This complicates the price assessment on an fob basis
If you have any comments on the discontinuation of this price please contact Vlada Novokreshchenova by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Vlada Novokreshchenova, re: steel rebar, fob Black Sea.”
To see all Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents go here.
All short-term forecasts associated with this price produced by Fastmarkets, if any, have also been discontinued.