[SMM Steel] Geopolitical Risks Inflate Marine Insurance; Black Sea Billet FOB Prices Pressured Downward

Published: Jul 23, 2026 15:48

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[Black Sea] As geopolitical conflicts in the Black Sea region escalated again this week, marine insurance costs surged to 10–15 USD/tonne, driving freight rates from the Black Sea to Turkey up sharply from approximately 20 USD/tonne to 30–35 USD/tonne. This substantial spike in logistics expenses has severely squeezed export netbacks, pulling the Black Sea steel billet export assessment down to 465 USD/tonne FOB. Concurrently, dragged down by a previous low-priced transaction involving 40,000 tonnes of Russian resources, Turkish import offers fell synchronously by 10 USD/tonne to 490 USD/tonne CFR. Meanwhile, Chinese steel billet offers to the Russian port of Novorossiysk held steady at 515–520 USD/tonne CFR.

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