Scrap prices have been strong in general in recent weeks thanks to the scrap demand coming from the Far East. Although demand for finished steel products is currently at low levels, finished steel product prices in the CIS and Turkey have taken hold at certain levels thanks to the resilience of scrap and billet prices. Meanwhile, as a result of Turkish producers' purchases of large scrap tonnages, scrap prices have registered an uptrend over the last two weeks. Thus, billet prices have also increased in Turkey and the CIS. Although no large tonnage purchases have been heard on the finished products side, billet prices in general in the CIS and Turkey have registered an increase under the influence of the abovementioned scrap purchase activity of Turkish producers whose scrap stocks had diminished.
Ex-CIS billet prices have been at $370-380/mt FOB CIS since the beginning of this week, indicating a price increase of $10-15/mt from last week. Demand has been reported at this price range.
Meanwhile, an uptrend has been observed in the Turkish domestic and export markets. While producers last week concluded billet sales for large tonnages in the local market at $380-390/mt ex-works excluding VAT, as of early this week they have increased their price levels to $400-415/mt in the local and export markets. Prices are ex-works and excluding VAT in the local market and FOB in the export market.
However, the rising prices of raw materials and semi-finished products have not influenced the demand for finished steel products either positively or negatively. While some buyers, thinking that billet prices may go up further, have stepped up their search for material, some others consider that the billet price uptrend is just temporary and that prices may register a sharp decrease. Thus, the latter are hesitating to buy.