Following the sharp declines seen in import scrap prices in Turkey this week, buyers in the local Turkish billet market have postponed their billet purchases as they have maintained a cautious stance. Over the past week, Turkish steel mills' domestic billet offers have remained unchanged at $425-30/mt ex-works with the support of import billet quotations. However, domestic billet prices in Turkey are expected to decline in the short term amid the weakness of demand as well as the decreases seen in import scrap quotations.
Ex-CIS billet offers to Turkey have moved sideways week on week at $425-435/mt CFR, while market sources report that a Russian billet producer has concluded a billet deal in Turkey at $423/mt CFR. However, buyers are currently putting downward pressure on ex-CIS billet offers since no improvement in demand has been observed as import scrap quotations have started to fall.
Chinese billet offers to the export markets have also remained stable week on week at $455-465/mt FOB. On the other hand, Chinese billet export offers are expected to decline in the short term because of the sharp decreases recorded in Chinese iron ore quotations at the beginning of the current week.