The expected slowdown in the domestic rebar market in Turkey, coupled with the subdued exports, have continued putting the pressure on the workable billet prices. Some of the local suppliers have stepped down in their offers and managed to sell medium lots, while on the import side, where the different factors are in command, the offers have mainly remained stable with no activity seen. Moreover, the supply is currently limited due to the absence of offers of some origins.
In the local market of Turkey, around 15,000 mt for February delivery have been booked at $510/mt ex-works, another mill has traded a small lot at $517/mt ex-works for prompt delivery. Other suppliers in the region are offering at $510/mt, with no deals reported as the mills are not keen on selling due to softening rebar prices. “As it is said that even slightly below $550/mt were sold here, there is no rush for billet sales today since if they show they are eager to trade billet, buyers would increase the pressure,” a source told SteelOrbis. According to the current import scrap price levels, the own EAF-based billet production cost in Turkey is around $515/mt.
In the Marmara region, where the rebar prices are at around $580/mt ex-works mainly the billet prices of the delivered basis have been evaluated at $515-520/mt CPT with the upper end being not workable. The domestic billet prices in the Izmir region have been reported at $505-510/mt ex-works, while the local rebar stood at around $550-555/mt ex-works.
Import offers from China have been set at $475/mt CFR for February shipments, pretty much unchanged from the past week. No active negotiations have been reported as the mills are not much under necessity to restock while the billet is mainly for the long lead time. It is believed that Turkish buyers would look for around $462-465/mt CFR for 45,000-50,000 mt cargoes. No firm offers have been heard from Indonesia and Malaysia for the time being.
The latest base ex-Ukraine offers have been reported at around $490-500/mt CFR for February shipments with buyers showing not much interest in such price levels and bidding by at least $15/mt lower than that. The suppliers are currently not interested in decreasing their prices, given that there is no pressure to sell nowadays and, in addition, being limited by the fact of the problematic shipments from Odesa port.
Most rare offers for ex-Russia billet have been still at near $460/mt CFR in Turkey, which translates to $435-440/mt FOB Black Sea depending on freight, which is almost in line with last week’s reference of $438/mt FOB. But overall, the offer volumes have been limited ahead of holidays and due to still unfavorable exchange rate. Local currency exchange rate was at $1= RUB 78 versus $1= RUB 80 late last week.
