Billet buyers in Turkey continue buying from local mills and are ready to pay higher and higher prices, trying to cover their needs for the moment and to secure some volumes for the future. The halting of supplies from Ukraine and Russia, which will continue for quite a while, makes buyers look for alternative sources of supply since the CIS was the key supplier of billet to the region.
According to sources, a 15,000 mt billet deal has been closed in the Iskenderun region at $785/mt ex-works to a local re-roller. Earlier, the same company has traded 5,000 mt at the same, while another mill sold 5,000 mt at $780/mt ex-works, for a profile grade. Previously, local billet sales had been closed at $760/mt ex-works at the highest, as SteelOrbis reported.
Obviously, there are no import offers for CIS origin billet, but some market players have reported that ex-India material is available at $750-760/mt CFR for March-April shipments. “Unfortunately, pricewise the business in benefitting from this horrible situation and the market will not be the same. All are trying to understand what will happen with transportation, with insurance, with payments, and where to get the material to substitute supplies,” a trader told SteelOrbis.