Demand in the local Turkish
billet market has remained sluggish, having failed to improve since last week. Despite the declines seen in scrap prices, Turkish steel producer Kardemir has revised its
billet prices upwards, causing prices in the local Turkish
billet market to increase by $5/mt on the lower end during the past week to $280-290$/mt ex-works, excluding VAT and for March production.
Meanwhile, import
billet offers to
Turkey have remained stable in the same period against the backdrop of the Chinese New Year holiday. Turkish buyers are unwilling to conclude new import
billet bookings as they are waiting to see the new Chinese
billet offers after the holiday period. Before the holiday, Chinese
billet offers to
Turkey were in the range of $255-260/mt CFR, but these offers failed to gain acceptance in
Turkey. On the other hand, ex-CIS
billet prices for
Turkey have remained unchanged over the past week in the range of $260-265/mt CFR. Also, Iranian
billet offers to the same destination are still at $260/mt CFR.