The billet market in Turkey has been showing some improvement recently, based on higher scrap prices, still limited availability particularly for December deliveries, and also with higher rebar prices gaining a certain amount of acceptance in the local market and abroad.
As a result, local Kardemir has managed to sell over 35,000 mt of billet with today’s announcement at $543-553/mt ex-works depending on the grade. The supplier’s workable price has increased by $18/mt from the earlier round of sales. Other mills in Turkey are said to be offering $540-550/mt ex-works and may increase their offers shortly. In fact, one of the Iskenderun mills has sold 1,000 mt of billet at $563/mt ex-works, but the level is not yet considered as a market one since the volume is minor.
Offers for ex-Russia and ex-Donbass billets have reached $490-500/mt FOB. One deal has been rumored at $512-515/mt CFR Turkey, translating to $487-490/mt FOB, but this has been denied by the supposed buyer. “We hear that there could be interest from Turkey at $515-520/mt CFR,” a trader selling Russian billet said. Some suppliers believe above $520/mt CFR is workable but for cargoes for December deliveries.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has increased by $7.5/mt on average to $490-495/mt FOB Black Sea.
The tradable level for ex-Russia billet to Egypt has been reported at $535/mt CFR, translating to $490-495/mt FOB excluding freight and some additional expenses. The previous market price was $520/mt CFR Egypt. No deals have been reported so far, though one trader, dealing with sales to Egypt, said, “I guess we will reach this level soon,” adding, “But the currency situation is getting more difficult. Now sales in US dollars have stopped.”