CIS producers had tried to keep their prices afloat until last week. Considering that they would be able to sell their goods at their desired levels since Chinese billet is no longer available in the Mediterranean and Middle East, the CIS producers were trying to resist at a level of $500/mt FOB Black Sea. However, CIS billet began to experience a weakened situation due to the reduction in long product prices and the sufficient billet stocks of customers, especially in the Middle East and Mediterranean. As a result, CIS origin billet prices started to decline from last week, and are currently being offered for export in the price range of $485-490/mt FOB Black Sea. However, customers have not shown interest in these prices, and so price levels are expected to continue to decrease in the coming period. Currently, the only improvement for CIS billet is the slight activity seen in the Iranian market. According to reports, Iranian customers are making rather frequent inquiries. This situation may provide slight support for the CIS billet market.
Demand is not very good in the Turkish domestic billet market. Turkish mill Isdemir's sales have been closed and for the time being the mill is not seeking to make sales. However, Turkish domestic and imported billet prices are generally softening. The average Turkish domestic billet prices are currently at around $520/mt ex-works, excluding VAT.
Turkish billet export prices, which were at $520/mt FOB and above in late May/early June, are currently at around $500-505/mt FOB. It would be difficult to say that demand is strong. Weak demand and high stocks are also affecting Turkish mills in the same way that they affect their CIS counterparts.
In Italy, both the domestic and import billet markets are weak. The fact that Italian rebar prices have indicated a total decline of €90/mt ($121/mt) over the last couple of months seems to have affected the Italian billet market as well. According to reports, delivered to warehouse billet prices in Italy are currently lower than the €400/mt ($538/mt) reported two weeks ago. As a result, Italian customers are not showing interest in Turkish and CIS billet offers, which are in a range of $515-530/mt CFR. Italian rolling mills do not seem likely to show interest in either domestic or imported billet as long as the Italian long products market continues along its current trend.