The upward movement of domestic
billet prices observed in
Turkey for some time now had been supported by buyers' acceptance of new price levels at the beginning of last week, causing transaction activities to accelerate. During the previous week, this upward movement of domestic
billet quotations had continued in parallel with the rises seen in import scrap and
billet prices until it was interrupted by political developments in
Turkey on November 4 which were followed by the sharp depreciation of the Turkish lira against the US dollar. As a result, buyers in the local Turkish
billet market had adopted a cautious stance towards concluding new
billet deals.
In the current week, domestic
billet prices in
Turkey have continued their upward trend as the increases in the global steel market have continued unabated. Meanwhile, it is reported that buyers have stepped up their
billet purchases slightly today, November 9, since they are convinced that
billet prices will move up further. Currently, Turkish producers' offers to their domestic
billet market are at $400-415/mt ex-works, indicating an increase of $32.5/mt week on week.
On the other hand, import
billet offers in
Turkey have also continued their upward movement during the past week. Ex-CIS
billet offers to the country have increased by $20/mt week on week to $380-390/mt CFR. Also, CIS-based suppliers are reportedly planning to increase their
billet export quotations further, and so are giving a limited number of offers to the export markets at present.
Additionally, Chinese
billet export offers have moved up by $27.5/mt over the past week and are currently in the range of $375-385/mt FOB. Turkish buyers consider Chinese suppliers'
billet offers to be very high and their delivery times to be disadvantageous and so they prefer not to conclude deals for Chinese
billet, as indicated by reports.