Business activity in the billet market of Turkey has been almost muted as the year nears the end and most of the market players have been postponing their decisions and negotiations closer to mid-January. Import offers from China have indicatively increased mainly due to the exchange rate issues, therefore Turkish buyers prefer to wait and seen. In the domestic market, the prices for billet have stabilized but mainly due to the absence of buying activity.
In the domestic market, Turkey’s rebar prices have remained weak with some of the sellers dropping the offers by $5/mt, settling at $550-555/mt ex-works Iskenderun, $575-580/mt ex-works Marmara and $555/mt ex-works Izmir, according to the reports from earlier this week. As a result, local billet prices in the Iskenderun region have stabilized at $510-515/mt ex-works, in the Izmir and Marmara regions – at $505-510/mt ex-works and $515/mt CPT, respectively.
Turkey’s interest in the import cargoes has been almost absent while ex-China billet is now evaluated at $475-480/mt CFR for February shipments, $5/mt up over the week. “RMB exchange rate is at its historical low, so dollar-based price is increasing,” a trading source told SteelOrbis. Indonesian billet has been offered for April shipments at $440/mt FOB which corresponds to around $476-478/mt CFR Turkey. Latest prices for ex-Ukraine billet stood at $490-495/mt CFR with bids voiced at least $15/mt lower than that.
Suppliers of billet from Russia and the occupied territories of Donbass have left the market for the holiday period with the latest indications reported at $460/mt CFR Turkey and slightly above. The SteelOrbis reference price for Russian billet has remained at $435-440/mt FOB Black Sea.