Having been at $570-580/mt ex-works in the middle of last week, domestic billet prices in Turkey have increased further by $10/mt week on week to $580-590/mt ex-works.
It is heard that a steelmaker in Turkey’s Iskenderun region has concluded a domestic sale for 20,000 of billet this week at $585/mt ex-works, while another steel mill in the same region has concluded a sale to its local market for 10,000 mt of billet at $590/mt ex-works.
Additionally, Turkish steel producer Kardemir has closed its billet sales today, March 7, after selling about 74,000 mt in total. The mill had opened its sales earlier today at the level of TRY 2,175/mt ($572/mt) ex-works for S235JR billet and at TRY 2,195/mt ($578/mt) ex-works for MT III-A billet, both excluding VAT. After Kardemir closed its domestic billet sales, this price level on dollar basis has disappeared from the local Turkish billet market.
Considering the domestic billet sales heard over the past week, demand in the local Turkish billet market is at good levels. Also, with the tightness of supply experienced in the market, buyers are more willing to accept the price increases.