According to market sources, billet prices in the local Turkish market have been trending sideways since last week in the range of $530-540/mt ex-works. Meanwhile, local steelmaker Kardemir has failed to receive any demand for its local billet sales, which it opened on August 26. With their order books on the full side, billet producers in Turkey's Iskenderun region are not concluding spot sales at the moment. This situation is providing support for local billet quotations.
On the other hand, Chinese suppliers have become more active in the Turkish billet market with their aggressive offers, which have started to put pressure on Turkish steelmakers for the coming period. The Chinese offers, varying at $502-508/mt CFR, are $25/mt lower than domestic prices and so Turkish buyers have started to evaluate these offers.