Demand in the local Turkish billet market has remained unchanged at low levels during the past week. Turkish steel mills have raised their domestic billet prices by $10/mt week on week to $340-350/mt ex-works due to the increases seen in import scrap prices since last week, and also amid the slight upward movement of import billet offers to Turkey as of the beginning of the current week. Meanwhile, Turkish steel producer Kardemir has opened its domestic billet sales as per its new price list dated October 12, having previously closed its domestic billet sales on October 7. Accordingly, Kardemir has opened its sales for S235JR grade billets at the level of $340/mt ex-works, excluding VAT, and has also opened its sales for MT III-A grade billets at $345/mt ex-works, excluding VAT, with 25 percent on cash payment basis and with 25 percent each on 30-day, 60-day and 90-day deferred payment basis, and with no interest accruing due to payment deferral. Compared to the price list issued on September 27, the producer has increased its billet prices by $10/mt.
Additionally, import billet offers to Turkey have moved up on the lower end over the past week amid the rises seen in import scrap prices and due to the increases recorded in domestic finished steel prices. In the current week, ex-CIS billet offers to Turkey have increased by an average of $8.5/mt to $327-335/mt CFR, while Chinese billet offers to the export markets are currently at $320-330/mt FOB, though no new offers from China to Turkey has been heard after the long Chinese holiday which ended at the beginning of this week.