Turkey’s Kardemir has announced fresh billet sales with a $5/mt discount on the offers valid a couple of weeks back. This is not in line with the current market conditions, but the move is considered to be a strategic move against competition from the Black Sea region.
Kardemir has managed to sell up to 70,000 mt of billet at $485/mt ex-works for S235JR and $495/mt ex-works for B420 grade and closed its sales. In the other regions of Turkey, the price levels are at around $520-530/mt ex-works, particularly in the Iskenderun region, where there is a certain lack of supply.
Import offers from Russia have been indicatively reported at $460/mt CFR throughout the week, with an unconfirmed booking rumored at $455/mt CFR as SteelOrbis reported earlier. Following Kardemir’s move, according to players’ evaluations, Turkish buyers will put pressure on Russia to accept nothing higher than $450-455/mt CFR, while the earlier higher levels were possible especially for short lead times.
Ukraine is active in the billet export market only to a certain extent with one mill offering at $525/mt CFR for 3SP billet. Another mill is holding back offers, following a sale in early February at $505/mt CFR Turkey.
Asian billet, namely, Chinese and Indonesian origins, are offered indicatively at $485/mt CFR, up from $475-478/mt CFR previously, while the levels of $470-475/mt CFR are considered workable against the current scrap levels of around $360/mt CFR on average for HMS I/II (80:20). Malaysia is available at $490/mt CFR for April shipments, which is not yet workable at least until rebar in Turkey picks up seasonally as expected.