There was no impact on steel supply from the Wagner rebellion in Russia over the weekend, market participants inform Kallanish.

The Wagner Group, a mercenary organisation, pulled out of Rostov-on-Don, a city situated in the southern region of the country. Rostov-on-Don is also known for its involvement in the export of Russian billet. Wagner's decision to withdraw and abandon its advance towards Moscow signifies the resolution of a potential coup attempt, which would have been the first of its kind in Russia in thirty years.

The short-lived event in Russia ended unnoticed by foreign buyers of Russian billet in the Middle East and North Africa, as the market there remained silent ahead of the Eid holidays this week.

“The market is quiet; all our [Turkish] clients are assessing the consequences of the interest rate hike by Turkey’s central bank, which reduces the profitability of production,” a Russian trading source observes.

“The offers of Russia-origin billet are still at $545-550/tonne cfr [Turkey] while bids in Turkey are at maximum $530/t cfr,” another Russian trading source says. Offers from Donbas are heard at $530-535/t cfr Turkey, according to the same source.

One trading source indicates he heard that Russian billet was sold into Turkey at $530/t cfr; however, this was not confirmed by other sources. At the same time, the level was indeed assessed as the current workable price by three market sources, including two Russian producers and one trader.

“Demand is very limited and whoever needs to sell needs to make discounts, so $530/t cfr for Russian material is expected,” a Turkish trading source notes. “I hear offers, but not bookings,” a Turkish billet consumer source observes.

As a result, Russian billet prices remained unchanged from 22 June at $505-515/t fob Black Sea and down by $5/t on the high side compared to $505-520/t fob on 21 June. Malaysian billet was on offer at $560/t cfr Turkey, unchanged from last week.

In May, Turkey imported 161,971 tonnes of steel billet from Russia at an average price of $595/t, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data against HS code 720711. This comprised 52% of total billet imports by Turkey that month.

This, however, represents a decrease in tonnage by 22.5% compared to the same month last year and by 38.44% compared to April 2023, when Turkey imported a 2023 record-high 224,227t of billet from Russia.

Russia’s central bank set the exchange rate at 84.6642 roubles per $1 for 27 June compared to 84.0793 roubles per $1 on June 26 and 84.2336 roubles per $1 on 21 June. The Turkish lira was traded on Monday at 25.95 per $1 compared to 23.59 per $1 on 21 June.