Demand in the local Turkish billet market has remained at low levels over the past week. Turkish billet producers report that there are uncertainties regarding scrap prices in the market. Although Turkish steel mills are targeting lower scrap quotations, scrap suppliers are supported by their previous sales, while they also have cited the high levels of scrap collection prices and are not inclined to meet Turkish mills’ desired price levels for now. In the meantime, Turkish billet producers are awaiting a settled price level in the scrap market before they decide on a price strategy.
On the other hand, the reduced capacity utilization in the Turkish steel market as well as the stoppages effected by some local billet mills have caused supply shortages in the local Turkish billet market. With many rolling mills also pausing production, demand in the local Turkish billet market is still at low levels. Meanwhile, while market sources think that the fall in scrap quotations should be reflected in billet prices, no domestic billet offer has been heard in the Turkish market, though ex-CIS billet offers to Turkey are at $465-470/mt CFR.