Trade in Turkey’s billet market has been seen only in the local segment and predominantly in response to the new offers announced by Kardemir, since they were set at acceptable levels for buyers. As a result, along with the regular re-rollers, even some steel mills have booked from this supplier since their own billet production costs are higher. In the import segment, business has remained quiet since the prices offered by most suppliers are above buyers’ expectations and, moreover, the cargoes are mainly available for late March and April shipments, from Asia in particular.
Local integrated Kardemir has announced a new price for steel billet with a $5/mt price decrease from the early January offers, to $495/mt for S235JR and $505/mt for B420, both on the ex-works basis. The supplier has managed to close sales in a short period of time totaling 53,500 mt. “Kardemir’s price includes an average of 45 days’ deferred payment, and it makes more sense than producing from scrap yourself,” a source commented to SteelOrbis. Currently, with today’s HMS I/II (80:20) import scrap levels, the billet production cost is evaluated at around $525/mt in Turkey, while those balancing longs and HRC production might have $5-10/mt higher costs, market players commented.
Aside from Kardemir, most of the offers for billet in the Iskenderun and Izmir regions have stabilized at $505-510/mt ex-works, but mainly because the mills are not willing to start negotiations given such weak rebar sales and pricing. Over the past week, Turkey’s local rebar offers have lost around $5/mt and slightly more than that in the case of certain mills, to $545-575/mt ex-works in offers depending on the region. As SteelOrbis reported, at least four mills across the country have either stopped some of their rolling lines for maintenance or are planning to do so shortly.
Import billet offers from China have settled at $473-477/mt CFR this week with little interest seen as it seems that the buyers are not ready to deal for anything above $470/mt CFR. Indonesian billet is at $455/mt FOB or around $487-490/mt CFR and is not workable. No allocation from Malaysia has been reported either, with the indicative offers remaining at $500-505/mt CFR for April shipments, apart from the rumours of a deal at slightly above $495/mt CFR closed for a shorter lead time. Ukraine has been out of the market due to a production slowdown, resulting from Russia’s continuous military attacks against Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilians.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet is stable at $440-445/mt FOB, mainly as overall offers have been very rare. “Only Metalloinvest can sell from Russia at the moment as they can accept the current low price. Everyone else has stopped selling,” a trader said. One of the reasons for the lower allocation from Russia has been the further appreciation of the Russian ruble against the US dollar with the exchange rate hitting the lowest level since February 2023, at $1 = RUB 75 (as of January 26). In comparison, in early January the rate was nearly $1 = RUB 80. The market sources said that the tradable level for Russian billet in Turkey (only for a short lead time) will be around $465-470/mt CFR. “Everybody will target below $470/mt CFR for Russia and China [billet],” a source from Turkey said.