Billet prices in Turkey have declined compared to before the recent holiday, mainly driven by the weaker situation in China and slow long product sales in the domestic and export markets. Moreover, a certain strengthening of import scrap prices seen in the last couple of deals has still not helped billet prices to rebound.
Today, June 27, Turkish integrated producer Kardemir opened its billet sales at $535/mt ex-works for S235JR grade and $550/mt ex-works for B420, which is considered to be a $10/mt decline from the general market prices. The supplier succeeded in selling around 70,000-75,000 mt quickly and then closed its sales. Taking into account Kardemir’s sales, the general local billet price in Turkey is now estimated at $535-555/mt ex-works depending on the supplier.
In the import segment, some interest has as expected been seen in Chinese billet, considering the attractiveness of ex-China offers owing to the weakness of iron ore prices up to yesterday. The latest deal was closed from China for 50,000 mt of billet at $518/mt CFR Izmir, sources say. “China was the most aggressive early this week when iron ore was in the $102-103/mt range and they were looking for $517-520/mt CFR [for billet], and hinting at going close to $515/mt CFR against bids. But then iron ore moved up, so there is a bit of a slowdown,” a trader told SteelOrbis. In Egypt, China has sold a cargo at $538/mt CFR including size and high-manganese extras of at least $10/mt, while the most recent ex-Black Sea deals were closed at a minimum of $545/mt CFR including extras before the holiday.
Billet offers from other Asian suppliers, namely Malaysia and Indonesia, have been reported at $525/mt CFR Turkey, while the same price has been voiced by a trader for an ex-Bahrain position cargo of 35,000 mt. However, market sources have doubts that these import levels will be workable after Kardemir’s sales. “At least Russia and Donbass should be around $30/mt lower than Kardemir, while other origins should be below $520/mt CFR,” a source mentioned.
This week, there seems to be no firm offers from Russian and Donbass-based suppliers with only some indications voiced at $515-520/mt CFR for end-of-July and August shipments. Bids have been reported at $500/mt CFR, while the tradable level is estimated at $505-510/mt CFR, buyers say. The SteelOrbis daily reference price for ex-Russia square billet is now at $490/mt FOB, down $8-10/mt over the past week.
In Turkey, the general import reference price has declined to $510-525/mt CFR, versus $518-534/mt CFR before the holiday, with the lower end marking realistic ex-Russia and Donbass levels.