The import billet market in Turkey has decreased further at the beginning of the week due to the continuing downtrend in the scrap market and the very limited confidence among buyers, SteelOrbis has learned on May 8.
Though most official offers for import billet have remained rather high, the tradable levels have definitely softened in Turkey. In particular, an official offer for ex-Malaysia billet is still at $565-570/mt CFR, but some sources have already reported that negotiations are being held at lower levels of $550-555/mt CFR.
The major CIS-based suppliers have been cutting prices very gradually, not being ready for a sharp cut in prices, at least for now. A small deal for around 3,000 mt of ex-CIS billet was heard at $525/mt FOB Black Sea for a trader for May shipment, which translates to around $550/mt on CFR basis to Turkey, adding the average freight charge. The price is already considered to be high, with bids for ex-Russia billet voiced at $540/mt CFR maximum. Nevertheless, most sellers offering ex-Russia and ex-Donbass material have been cutting offers much slower than buyers want. In particular, the target of small-volume suppliers for both prompt shipment and end-of-June shipment stands from $560/mt CFR and just slightly above, versus the previous deals at $565-570/mt CFR. “I believe we are very close to $530/mt CFR. This price is reasonable. Billet will have to follow the declines in scrap, which are not over yet,” a trader said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has settled at $515-535/mt FOB, with the midpoint at $525/mt FOB Black Sea, down by $10/mt from last Friday.
The last confirmed deep sea deal for scrap has been reported for ex-Netherlands HMS I/II (80:20) at $374/mt CFR Turkey, down from the previous bookings at $380-397/mt CFR for different origins HMS. The new low in the scrap market is expected at $365/mt CFR and the bottom could be even close to $350/mt CFR, according to a number of market participants.