The influence of the approaching Feast of Sacrifice holiday (Aug. 31-Sept. 4) is being felt in the local Turkish billet market, where demand has declined compared to last week. On the other hand, import scrap and billet prices in Turkey have remained at high levels, while domestic billet supply is still at low levels. As a result, domestic billet prices in Turkey have continued their upward movement during the past week, increasing by an average of $15/mt week on week to $520-535/mt ex-works.
In the same period, ex-CIS billet offers to Turkey have increased by $20/mt on the lower end and by $15/mt on the upper end week on week to $520-535/mt CFR. Since import billet prices are at the same level as domestic billet quotations, Turkish buyers prefer to work with domestic suppliers. On the other hand, as domestic billet supply is tight, Turkish buyers continue to make price inquiries for import billet, though market sources state that they are finding it difficult to obtain attractive import prices. SteelOrbis has also been informed that CIS-based billet suppliers prefer to give offers to Egypt where hikes in their billet offers gain acceptance more readily compared to Turkey.
After declining slightly last week, Chinese billet export prices increased on Monday, August 21. But with the influence of the declines seen in iron prices yesterday, August 22, the upward movement of Chinese billet export prices once again gave way to a soft trend, with prices currently at $510-515/mt FOB. It is observed that the decreases recorded in Chinese billet export quotations have yet not influenced the global billet market.