Market sources indicate that local billet prices in the Turkish domestic market are varying at $505-515/mt ex-works, softening by $10/mt in the past two weeks. Turkish steelmaker Kardemir opened its billet sales yesterday, October 14, closing its sales later on the same day after selling about 83,500 mt of billet. Turkish buyers had been seeking for discounts for a while, and so they had been reluctant to conclude new purchases. Meanwhile, Turkish billet producers have had to reduce their offer prices due to increased import billet bookings at attractive prices and the softening recorded in import scrap quotations.
In the meantime, a major Iskenderun-based steel mill has again started to accept billet orders at new price levels of $510-515/mt ex-works, though these prices are considered to be on the high side at the moment.