Business activity in Turkey’s billet market has been almost at a standstill this week mainly because most sellers and buyers have preferred to stand back and watch developments in the import scrap segment. As scrap prices have declined in the latest deals and the market sentiment is still not very optimistic, both sides of the billet trade have preferred to evaluate the market situation rather than to negotiate.
As a result, this week the number of billet offers in Turkey has been almost zero. According to sources, a few traders have been offering a small lot of billet originating from eastern Ukraine at $580-585/mt CFR, with no takers reported just yet. Indicative prices for prime ex-CIS billet are estimated at $590-595/mt CFR at the highest, while bids are expected at at least $10-15/mt lower than that.
In the local market, Turkish producers have also preferred to hold back their offers. Buyers estimate the domestic prices to be at $600/mt ex-works on average, but once again no transactions have been reported. It is worth mentioning that the low prices for rebar currently seen in Turkey are another good reason for re-rollers to postpone billet purchases. In particular, the latest rebar deals in the Izmir region have been closed this week at $610-615/mt ex-works, SteelOrbis has learned.