The situation in the import billet market in Turkey has improved somewhat since, even though overall tradable prices have remained almost the same as last week, the stabilization of scrap prices has resulted in higher confidence among buyers and the number of bids from Turkey has increased. Nevertheless, deals are still rare as ex-Black Sea billet exporters are targeting higher prices and, with increased freight rates, customers are not so ready to accept sellers’ target prices.
There has been information circulating in the market about a deal for 10,000-20,000 mt of ex-Donbass billet at $485/mt CFR Turkey, which translates to around $455-460/mt FOB Black Sea. This level is in line with the tradable level reported by buyers last week, but the deal has not been confirmed by the time of publication. Most market sources agree that suppliers are now targeting $470/mt FOB and can hardly accept lower than that for medium and big lots, with only one mill heard to be voicing $460/mt FOB at the lowest possible. A few more bids from Turkey have been reported at $480-485/mt CFR early this week.
At the same time, bids for smaller lots of 3,000-5,000 mt have been reported from some buyers in Turkey at $495/mt CFR. But considering the freight from Rostov (which serves small ships mainly) at $50/mt at the lowest, this price will be equivalent to only $445/mt FOB, and it is not acceptable to the seller, which is targeting at least $10/mt higher.
Price indications for small volumes of prompt shipment billet from Russia have remained at $505-515/mt CFR depending on the destination.
Trading of Russian billet in other destinations like North Africa is still weak. Offers from Russian suppliers to Egypt have been at $500/mt CFR, translating to around $460-470/mt FOB, while Iranian material has been on offer at $490/mt CFR.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has inched up by $2.5/mt on average to $455-460/mt FOB.