Demand in the local Turkish billet market has fluctuated during the past week. Last week, Kardemir opened its billet sales on November 8 at TRY 2,540-2,570/mt ($470-475/mt) and closed them on the same day after selling 59,000 mt in total. After these sales, the Turkish domestic billet market, which was already characterized by purchases being limited to immediate needs, started the current week with weak demand and maintained the same trend for the remainder of the week. Market sources indicated that buyers, who were concerned by the high volatility of the Turkish lira-US dollar exchange rate, preferred Kardemir over the spot market as the producer offers forward sales on Turkish lira basis. On the other hand, Turkish billet producers offers in the domestic market still stand at $480-490/mt ex-works supported by the high level of import scrap prices.
$1 = TRY 5.41 (November 8)