Billet markets follow scrap

The price gap between CIS origin billets and Turkish origin billets has again started to widen. With the strong demand for finished steel products and the rise in scrap prices, billet prices in the market have increased by around 20$/ton in two weeks. Prices have been in a range of $395-403/ton ex-works. Thanks to the strong demand for finished steel products, rolling mills are in a position to become appropriate buyers for these levels. Although Turkish billets are being offered for export at around $395-405/ton FOB, these levels do not see much interest. Sources report that Turkish mills do not have enough billets for export. The fact that demand for long products is strong and that June loadings for finished steel product exports has started to be talked are the important factors in this issue. Under these circumstances, turning billets into finished steel products and concluding sales of these value-added products is more attractive. Moreover, strong demand the rolling mills show towards billets decreases the supply of products that will be offered for export. After the price gap between CIS origin billets and Turkish origin billets increased again around $40/ton, CIS suppliers have started to give more competitive offers to North African, Middle Eastern and European markets. These offers were at $350-360/ton FOB early this week. Especially Turkish rolling mills could not find billets below $355/ton FOB through the end of the week. For CIS origin billets, May loadings are talked. However, both strong demand for finished steel products in the local CIS market and the reluctance of certain sellers to conclude any sales, with the expectation that the billet prices would increase further, affected billet supply in the market. Billet prices in the local Italian market have recently been in a range of Euro 350-355/ton delivered to customers' premises, including 60 days deferred payment. Italian semi-finished and long product markets have been following a stable trend for the last two weeks, probably due to the approaching elections. Looking at the current price gap between Turkish and CIS origin billets, we may say that Italian buyers will most probably prefer CIS origin billets. Spanish mills' considering a Euro 20/ton price hike for their long products at the end of March is thought to be an important factor that could affect the local and import billet markets in Spain. If this price increase in Spanish market is put into effect, an active period may start for the countries exporting billets to this market.