During the past week, demand in the Turkish
billet market has improved slightly, with purchases of both import and domestic
billet concluded, though overall demand in the Turkish
billet market has remained at low levels. Meanwhile, domestic
billet prices in
Turkey have moved sideways over the same period at $330-360/mt ex-works.
Turkish steel producer Kardemir closed its
billet sales yesterday, August 2, after selling about 123,500 mt of
billet in total at $340-345/mt ex-works, excluding VAT.
On the other hand, ex-CIS
billet offers to
Turkey have remained unchanged week on week at $330-340/mt CFR, while Chinese
billet offers to the country have increased by $20/mt on the lower end and by $15/mt on the upper over the same period to $345-350/mt CFR due to the rises seen in global iron ore prices.
It has been heard that Turkish steel producers - especially Turkish rolling mills - have been concluding purchases of import
billet since last week at $332-339/mt CFR in line with their immediate needs.
However, Turkish steel mills still consider import scrap prices to be more attractive and are trying as much as possible to avoid purchasing import
billet.
It has been observed that Turkish steel producers are currently focusing on their finished steel sales, while in the short term they are expected to make decisions on their import scrap and
billet purchases depending on their finished steel sales.