Having narrowed over the past week, the price range in the local Turkish billet market is now at $500-505/mt ex-works. Market sources state that domestic demand for billet in Turkey is still at low levels, though buyers, who are seeking to purchase billet only in line with their needs, are experiencing difficulties in finding sufficient billet supply.
As the result of the weakness of demand as well as the aggressive price policy of Iranian billet suppliers in their export markets, ex-CIS billet prices to Turkey have declined by $15/mt on the lower end and by $25/mt on the upper end week on week to $480-485/mt CFR. Meanwhile, it is reported that the inventory levels of CIS-based suppliers are at high levels, and so they are cutting their billet offers significantly to stimulate their sales.
Despite the cuts recorded in ex-CIS billet prices, domestic billet quotations in Turkey have only indicated a slight change over the past week amid the tight domestic billet supply and also due to import scrap prices in Turkey which have remained at high levels.
Additionally, Turkish buyers consider ex-CIS billet quotations to be more attractive compared to prices in their domestic market, and so demand in Turkey for billet from the CIS region has improved slightly week on week. On the other hand, market sources state that buyers are unwilling to conclude deals for large tonnages due to the uncertainties affecting sentiment in the Turkish steel market.