The price trend remains positive in Turkey’s square billet market with the new hike in deals and offers fixed since the end of last week. The sharp increase in import scrap prices and the limited semis availability has fuelled buyers’ interest in billet purchases.
According to sources, a mill in the Iskenderun region has sold 17,000 mt of billet in total as of last Friday at $450/mt ex-works, up $10/mt from the previous transactions. Current offers are at $460-465/mt ex-works in the region and, moreover, according to some sources, the lower end of the range has already been fixed in a small deal. “With today’s price trend and scrap and all, I think suppliers would target an increase in every deal and to sell a maximum of 5,000 mt per deal,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
Offers in the other regions of Turkey are expected to settle within $450-460/mt ex-works and above depending on availability. Kardemir is expected to announce its sales within this range tomorrow, November 17, SteelOrbis understands.
In the import segment, large sellers prefer to mainly evaluate the situation for now, but some offers from traders have already been heard at $450/mt CFR and above. The previous week finished at $435-445/mt CFR levels in offers depending on the seller.