Russia's billet exports fall 6% y-o-y in H1CY'21

Russia, one of the major exporters of steel billets, recorded a 6.02% y-o-y fall in exports of the material in the first six months of CY'21 (Jan-Jun'21). The volumes stood at 7.2 million tonnes (mn t) in Jan-Jun'21 as against 7.7 mn t in Jan-Jun'20, as per customs data maintained by SteelMint.

Taiwan, Belgium leading billet importers

Taiwan continued to be the largest importer of steel billets from Russia at 1.61 mn t during Jan-Jun'21. However, the imports were down by 15% y-o-y, when compared to 1.90 mn t in Jan-Jun'20.

Belgium jumped to the second position in the top importers' list with 1.03 mn t followed by Mexico with 1.01 mn t in H1CY'21. Steel billet exports from Russia to Belgium witnessed an increase of 11.5% in Jan-Jun'21 while those to Mexico were down by 17.25% y-o-y.

Russia's billet exports remain stable in Jun'21

Russia's billet exports remained largely stable, m-o-m, at 1.1 mn t in Jun'21.

Considering m-o-m, Taiwan was the largest importer of steel billets with 0.3 mn t in Jun'21 followed by Turkey and Denmark with 0.2 and 0.1 mn t respectively.

The Russian government, on 24 Jun'21 had announced an export duty on all steel products at the rate of 15%, but a minimum of $54 per tonne, effective 1 Aug'21 till 31 Dec'21. The export tax announcement was made by Russia's Head of Ministry of Economy, Maxim Reshetnikov, who said such a measure was required to tame Russian metal prices, which have risen on the heels of the global metals rally.

Notably, Russia is the third-biggest steel exporter. Its total steel exports were at 26.85 million tonnes (mn t) in 2020, in which billets comprised the highest share at 12.98 mn t. This may tighten billets' supplies in the seaborne market.