Demand in local Turkish billet market improves slightly

After declining by $10/mt in the second half of last week to $390-400/mt ex-works, domestic billet quotations in Turkey have once again increased to $400-410/mt ex-works in the current week in line with the rises recorded in import scrap prices in Turkey. Additionally, Turkish steel producer Kardemir has closed its billet sales today, April 5, after selling about 99,500 mt of billet in total. The mill had opened its sales earlier today at the level of TRY 1,495/mt ($407/mt) ex-works for S235JR billet, excluding VAT. It is observed that demand in the local Turkish billet market is livelier compared to last week, while Turkish buyers consider import billet quotations to be on the high side and are more interested in buying from local suppliers.
 
SteelOrbis has been informed that some CIS-based suppliers' billet offers to Turkey are at $400/mt CFR. However, producers in the CIS region are still experiencing problems with raw material procurement due to the ongoing blockade of railway lines in eastern Ukraine. As a result, some steel producers in the region have been forced to halt production, causing a tightness in billet supply. This has enabled CIS-based suppliers to keep their billet offers to Turkey stable over the past week at $405-415/mt CFR despite the weakness of demand. Turkish buyers' firm bids are currently at $390-395/mt CFR, while their demand for CIS-origin billet is now at low levels as they have failed to achieve their targeted prices and are continuing to purchase import scrap instead of import billet due to its favorable price.
 
Meanwhile, Chinese billet suppliers, who were on holiday at the beginning of the current week during the Qingming Festival, have returned to the market today, April 5. It is observed that Chinese billet suppliers' billet export offers have remained unchanged week on week at $430-440/mt FOB. However, market sources report that demand for Chinese billet in the export markets is still weak.