Both local and export prices of steel billet in Turkey have continued to increase in the past week, due to the lack of billet supply in the local Turkish market and also due to the ongoing increases in scrap prices which were sparked by demand from Turkey. Turkish steel producer Kardemir has this week sold approximately 38,000 mt of billet to the local market in its sales that opened at the price level of $540-543/mt.
This week, import billet offers have also continued to trend upward in line with scrap prices. Import offers for billet, which started the week at $530-540/mt CFR, increased to the level of $545-550/mt CFR towards the end of the week. In the CIS, producers are maintaining the strength of their prices, as they have filled their order books and also due to their good sales performance in some markets.
In the CIS, producers' billet offers on FOB basis have this week shown an increase of $10/mt. Due to the lack of billet supplies in North Africa and the Middle East, billet sales activity, especially to the Iranian market, has continued. In the CIS region, mills are expected to keep their prices strong, while traders are expected to give higher offers in the context of the increased market prices.