Billet market business activity in Turkey has remained stalled this week, taking into account the generally pessimistic mood in the longs segment. Although spot rebar prices moved up early this week, the situation on the mills’ side has not improved. In addition, the latest import scrap deals have not yet brought enough clarity to the market picture, as some players had been expecting a sharper price drop. In the meantime, others, seeing a limited downturn in scrap prices, assume billet prices are close to the bottom.
Import offers are represented by a few origins this week. The lowest levels are coming from Iran at $575/mt CFR and there has been a talk about a small sale at $570/mt delivered without any detail specified. Ex-China offers weakened by $5/mt over the week to $600/mt CFR with no interest seen. The billet prices from Donbass have been reported to be mainly at $580-595/mt CFR depending on the region for May-June shipments.
The sentiment among Russian billet suppliers is mixed due to the unclear situation in the scrap market. Earlier, the larger suppliers were feeling the bottom might be at around $590/mt CFR, due to only a minor decline for ex-US scrap, versus the expected decrease. However, no deals have been reported and the latest ex-Netherlands scrap sale has brought some confusion. “It is unclear what the tradable level for billet is after the latest scrap deal [done at $427.5/mt CFR]. There will be a market reshaping again,” a Turkish trader said. “Scrap is also under pressure. I think it will stabilize at $430/mt [for premium origins] before the Eid holiday,” an international trader commented.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has remained at $560-570/mt FOB, which reflects the latest rare offers.
Domestic billet prices in Turkey have settled at $630-640/mt ex-works/CPT in the Iskenderun and Marmara regions, while mills in the Izmir area are refraining from active offers. No deals have been reported as buyers are aiming to see the scrap situation more clearly. “It is hard to say what the workable level would be since longs are weak and there is no import billet transaction since people do not understand clearly what the scrap price is and what the captive billet cost is,” a source told SteelOrbis.