It is observed that the trading activity in the local Turkish billet market has failed to accelerate after the end-of-Ramadan holiday and is still quiet. It is reported that domestic billet prices in Turkey have increased by $5/mt week on week to $420-435/mt ex-works, while market sources state that domestic billet prices could possibly indicate a further increase in the short term with the influence of the tightness of supply and the upward movement seen in import scrap quotations in Turkey.
Meanwhile, ex-CIS billet offers to Turkey are still at $410-430/mt CFR. Although Turkish buyers consider this price range to be on the high side, CIS-based suppliers are receiving a lot of demand from Egypt and are concluding deals to this latter destination at $420/mt CFR. As a result, CIS-based billet suppliers are focusing on the Egyptian market. The suppliers in the CIS region are seeking to increase their billet export offers due to the rapid rise seen in Chinese billet export offers and also due to the demand received from Egypt. However, market sources state that it is difficult for Turkish buyers - whose current demand for ex-CIS billet is weak - to accept the increased prices since they consider the delivery times of CIS-based suppliers to be on the long side.
The upward movement of the Chinese futures markets as well as the problems experienced regarding billet supply in China continue to push up Chinese billet export quotations. In the current week, Chinese billet offers to the export markets have increased by an additional $10/mt week on week to $445-450/mt FOB. Under these circumstances, Chinese billet suppliers are not expected to conclude sales to Turkey and are reportedly focusing on meeting their domestic demand due to the tightness of domestic billet supply.