During the past week, demand in the local Turkish
billet market has declined further. Despite the weak demand, Turkish
billet producers have increased their domestic prices further by $10/mt week on week to $350-360/mt ex-works amid the ongoing upward movement of import scrap and import
billet quotations. On the other hand, market sources state that Turkish
billet producers prefer not to give new offers to their domestic market and are generally maintaining a wait-and-see stance due to their expectations of a further rise in import scrap and import
billet quotations.
Meanwhile, CIS-based
billet suppliers have also increased their offers to
Turkey by $4/mt week on week to $330-340/mt CFR amid the increases seen in the local Turkish
billet market, the Chinese futures exchange market and raw material prices in China. In the same period, Chinese
billet offers to the export markets have moved up by $12.5/mt to $335-340/mt FOB. However, this price range is considered to be on the high side by Turkish buyers and so no new Chinese
billet offers have been heard in the Turkish market. CIS-based suppliers'
billet export offers are expected to rise further in the coming period due to the sharp increases recorded in Chinese
billet quotations since the beginning of the current week, while import scrap prices are expected to support the foreseen upward movement of ex-CIS
billet quotations.