Turkey’s import billet market has moved down with most buyers voicing lower bids even despite the absence of a decline in the scrap segment so far. Strong construction steel demand in the country and still plenty of billet offers have been additional factors in the current situation.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported billet in Turkey has been lowered by $5-10/mt to $630-660/mt CFR depending on the origin and lead times.
Offers for ex-Malaysian billet to Turkey have been reported at $675/mt CFR, almost in line with the previous deal done for this origin to one of the mills in Iskenderun earlier this month. However, for now, this price has been considered “ridiculous” and the trader seems ready to cut it to $660/mt CFR, but still without any response from customers. Malaysian billets have been recently been priced the highest as they are not subject to 22.4 percent import duty. Some offers for Chinese and Malaysian billets have been reported at $660-670/mt CFR. At the same time, a number of large Turkish buyers have been assessing the tradable level at $640/mt CFR at the highest for now.
Nevertheless, similar to last week, short lead times and April shipments could become an advantage and attract somewhat better prices. In particular, the tradable level for certain origins which comply with buyers’ requirements is around $655-660/mt CFR. Ukrainian mills were in the market with offers $660-675/mt CFR depending on the steel grade. There has been information that ex-India billet also for April shipment could be available at $655/mt CFR Turkey, though the trader who took a position from an Indian mill recently was not in a hurry to sell.
Among the duty-free origins, some offers for Italian 140 mm and 160 mm billet have been at as high as $685/mt CFR for April shipment, considered too high for the current weaker market conditions.
Demand for ex-Russia billet in Turkey is also reduced. Small cargoes of ex-Russia billets for prompt shipment have been sold at $633-634/mt CFR, which is down from the last week’s contract level of $637/mt CFR. Moreover, some bids for smaller cargoes have already been heard down to $625/mt CFR. “Turkish buyers are blocking import deals. It is almost impossible to sell at $630/mt CFR,” a source trading Russian billet said. Small lots of ex-Azerbaijan billet are still available at $640/mt DAP Karabuk as “they could be imported without duty,” a source commented.
Bigger volumes of ex-Russia billet have been voiced at $650/mt CFR for May shipment, which translate to around $$620-625/mt FOB Black Sea with no deals reported since bids are at least $10-15/mt lower.
In such conditions, the SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has declined by $5/mt since late last week to $605-615/mt FOB.
The domestic billet trading activity in Turkey has been relatively quiet this week, despite the firmer scrap prices. One reason is that some of the re-rollers had restocked previously, while others are in negotiations for small import lots. Another reason is the descending price trend in the import segment, which makes buyers anticipate a certain weakening in the domestic market as well. In the Iskenderun region, the offer level is at $690-700/mt ex-works, more or less much in line with last week's levels. In the Izmir and Marmara regions, the offers are at $720/mt and $700-710/mt ex-works levels with no fresh deals reported.