Low availability in Turkish billet spot market

SteelOrbis has heard from market sources that a shortage is observed in the Turkish spot market regarding billet with short lead times. Due to the supply issue, 5,000 mt of billet was sold yesterday, March 27 to the Iskenderun region at the price level of $560-570/mt ex-works, while current billet prices in the domestic market are at $555-565/mt ex-works, moving up by $5/mt week on week.
 
Even though generally demand has remained stagnant in the Turkish long steel market, low availability in the semi-finished market has dragged prices up. Meanwhile, considering current prices to be  too low, local steelmakers are not so focused on sales activity at the moment, while local billet offers will likely trend sideways at $555-565/mt ex-works for a while, following a decrease in local scrap purchase prices.
 
On the other hand, Turkish billet export offers have declined by $15/mt week on week to $540-550/mt FOB for late April-early May shipment and demand has remained extremely poor.