Turkish integrated steel producer Kardemir has opened domestic sales of 150 mm x 150 mm steel billet today, January 21, reducing its prices by TRY 35/mt ($9/mt) compared to last week. The supplier’s offer for S235JR grade has been set at TRY 2,460/mt ($416/mt) ex-works, while its III-A grade billet is available at TRY 2,490/mt ($421/mt) ex-works.
The downward move is most probably the result of the generally weak market sentiment and negative expectations in the import scrap market. It is also worth mentioning that, according to sources, Kardemir may be opening its sales every week in order to keep up with market developments and to increase the efficiency of its business operations, as SteelOrbis understands. Last week, Kardemir sold close to 40,000 mt of billet, as reported earlier. Sources report Kardemir sold approximately 5,500 mt billet by the end of the day. However, their billet sales are still open.
At the end of last week, Turkey’s domestic billet prices were in the range of $420-430/mt ex-works. Currently, sources say that deals far above $420/mt ex-works are hardly possible. In the import segment, deals for prompt shipment billet ex-CIS were closed mainly at $410-415/mt CFR last week, SteelOrbis has learned.
Prices exclude 18 percent VAT.
$1 = TRY 5.92
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