Trading activity in the local and import billet segments in Turkey has improved since last week since, after the previous drop in prices, buyers have been more eager to purchase, especially given sellers’ strong resistance to further price reductions and some stabilization in scrap prices for now.
Kardemir’s price has dropped by $15/mt since April 9, coming to $485/mt ex-works for S235JR billet and $495/mt ex-works for B420. The producer closed its sales after just a few hours today, April 30, and the total sales volume has been reported by market sources at around 50,000 mt. “This was expected, that Kardemir would open at a lower price and grab orders,” a Turkey-based source said, adding that, after the previous drop in scrap prices followed by some stabilization, activity had to increase in the billet segment.
In addition, two deals for Chinese billets are reported to have been done to Turkey last week: one was for Izmir at $452/mt CFR for 3SP billet with manganese content of 0.60 percent, while another one was heard for Diliskelesi at $455/mt CFR for wire rod grade material. Considering extras for quality, the base price should be $4-5/mt below the abovementioned final prices. As reported last week, offers for Chinese and Indonesian billets were at $455-460/mt CFR, meaning that sellers have provided some additional discounts to sign deals. “These prices are very low. I don’t think traders will be very active now,” an Asian source said, adding that a clearer market trend in Asia will emerge after the holiday in China (May 1-5). Most offers for Asian billets to Turkey this week have been at $462-470/mt CFR.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has settled at $425-435/mt FOB Black Sea, inching up by $2.5/mt on average since late last week mainly since sellers have resisted giving any of the lower offers which Turkish buyers had been asking for. In particular, one of the mills has been offering at $455/mt CFR Zonguldak this week, translating to $435/mt FOB Black Sea. “We usually see that buyers try to get [ex-Russia prices at] $30-35/mt below Kardemir, so somewhere near $450/mt CFR should work in case someone is in need,” a source said.
