Trade in Turkey’s billet market has been mainly seen in the domestic segment in the past week, while imports have been generally silent except for some deals from the Black Sea region for material with shorter lead times. Asian billet is mainly on offer for March and April shipments and, moreover, prices have been stable to slightly positive, making Turkish mills less willing to start negotiations, at least for the moment. “Scrap prices are now hurting all of us. We are trying to push end product prices to higher levels,” a steel producer told SteelOrbis. With HMS I/II (80:20) import scrap estimated at $370/mt CFR, domestic billet production costs are evaluated at around $520-525/mt.
In the domestic market, around 35,000-40,000 mt of billet were booked at $508-510/mt ex-works in the Iskenderun region for March production, while the general level of offers in the area is at $505-510/mt and up to $515/mt ex-works, depending on the delivery term. In the Izmir region, offers are also at $505-510/mt ex-works, while in the Marmara region, where the rebar offers are the highest, at $575-580/mt ex-works, versus $555-565/mt ex-works Izmir and Iskenderun, billet indications have been reported at a minimum of $520-525/mt CPT, which is not considered workable.
Import offers from China have been reported at $475-480/mt CFR from most traders and for March shipments, while some slightly higher offers are also available. The latest deals were at $475/mt CFR, as SteelOrbis reported. Currently, it seems there is no buyer at this level, at least temporarily. Ex-Malaysia billet offers have been at $505-510/mt CFR Iskenderun, also for March shipments, up slightly from last week. Ukraine is currently out of the market, having limited volumes for February production to sell, but also while facing internal logistics issues due to continuous Russian missile and drone attacks.
The latest billet price targets from Russia in the Turkish market have been reported at $465/mt CFR and slightly above, with closer lead times, while deals for medium and small lots were closed to Turkish buyers earlier in January at $455-462/mt CFR.