Due to the continuing demand for steel billets from some markets in the Far East, a certain amount of activity has been observed in terms of transactions to this region. In particular, the markets in Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines are seen to be active. Due to the demand from these markets, raw material and accordingly steel billet prices in Turkey have shown some increases.
Some Turkish billet producers have made scrap purchases this week thanks to billet demand in the market, while billet export offers given from Turkey have been standing in the price range of $480-485/mt FOB toward the end of the week. It is known that Turkish billet producers have concluded several transactions to the Far East market this week. Moreover, in the local Turkish market, Kardemir has sold approximately 34,000 mt of billet in domestic billet sales which it opened at the price level of $477-480/mt early this week.
As of this week, Ukrainian producers' billet offers for export are standing at $465-470/mt FOB Ukraine. It is observed that CIS producers are tending not to decrease their billet offers, given the supply shortage in the markets caused by some producers cutting their billet production capacity.
In the coming days, Turkish and CIS producers are expected to focus on the Far East markets and, if the demand in these markets continues, they are expected to try to maintain the price levels of their billet export offers.