Despite still being silent overall, Turkey’s billet market has seen some activity in terms of local trade, in the Iskenderun region specifically. In the meantime, interest in import billet in Turkey has been minimal with only sporadic transactions fixed.
In the Iskenderun region, a 10,000 mt lot has been booked at $695/mt ex-works, up $5/mt from the sale closed for the same volume at the end of last week. In addition, according to sources, a 15,000 mt lot of wire rod grade billet was traded a few days ago at $698/mt ex-works. Import offers to the region have been reported at $690-700/mt CFR depending on the seller and shipment time, with bids hardly exceeding $670-675/mt CFR.
In the Marmara region, while domestic billet offers are at around $690/mt ex-works, one mill has managed to book 10,000 mt from the CIS at the end of last week at $660/mt CFR, which is considered to be a rather low level for the time being, SteelOrbis understands.
Buyers in the Karabuk region have been receiving import offers from the CIS at $675-680/mt CFR for August shipment. However, sellers report their offers have not been meeting much positive feedback, partly as most buyers in the area had restocked with billet from Kardemir earlier. Still, one deal for small volume has been reported at $680/mt CFR.
Indicative local billet offers in the Izmir region have been reported at $700/mt ex-works minimum, mainly resulting from insufficient supply. Some sources have reported a 10,000 mt sale to one of the major re-rolling companies at $680-685/mt CFR, but the information has not been fully confirmed by the time of publication. A small lot has been sold from Russia at $683/mt CFR Izmir for prompt shipment.