Turkey’s Kardemir has announced fresh billet sales at a stable price compared to three weeks ago and has managed to sell some volumes. Still, trade is considered to be slow since the import price levels have fallen quite sharply over the same period. Overall, import offers from Asia have been quite workable, versus mills’ own EAF-based billet production costs in Turkey and this, according to some sources, has already triggered a couple of deals.
Kardemir’s price has remained at $500/mt ex-works for S235JR billet and $510/mt ex-works for B420 and by the time of publication the producer has managed to sell up to 30,000 mt, though some sources report the total volume is closer to 45,000 mt. “Versus imports, the price might be considered high. However, for some, $500/mt from Kardemir in small lots week by week is better than end-of-June or July deliveries from Asia for 40-50,000 mt,” a source stated commenting on the situation.
Asian prices for billet in the import market have remained weak, following the recently reported price drop, with China now offering at $463-465/mt CFR, versus $465-468/mt CFR yesterday and around $475-480/mt CFR a week ago. According to various sources, two cargoes may have been booked to Turkey, with one of them closed at $457/mt CFR, while the other may have been booked at slightly higher than that. “It [Chinese billet price] is $35/mt lower today than Kardemir and at least $65/mt lower than mills’ own EAF-based production costs. So, no wonder,” a trader told SteelOrbis. Ex-Indonesia prices in Turkey are being reported at $465-468/mt CFR now, with potential to be sold a couple of dollars lower than that. Ex-Malaysia offers have not been firm recently, but the majority of market sources estimate the indications for this origin at not above $475-480/mt CFR. As for Ukraine, one of the mills remains out of the market due to its maintenance schedule for May, while another supplier is now offering at $510/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned.
The ex-Russia billet reference price has settled at $445-450/mt FOB Black Sea, down by $5/mt from the previous day and down $10/mt since late last week. But, in general, the number of offers has remained limited and the price has been indicative, based on the tradable level in the Turkish market. The depreciation of the Russian currency to $1 = RUB 86 from $1= RUB 84 last week has not been enough to support the majority of sellers, according to market sources. The tradable level for Russian billet has been assessed at $450-460/mt CFR in Turkey, mainly for prompt shipments, and at $460-465/mt CFR in Egypt, which has been too low for most exporters.