Demand in the local Turkish billet market is still sluggish this week, while buyers continue to exert downward pressure on prices. Last week, Turkish producer Kardemir closed its billet sales, after selling about 140,000 mt of billet in total at a revised price of $275/mt ex-works. Following Kardemir’s closure of its billet sales, prices in the local Turkish billet market have decreased by $10/mt to $275-290/mt ex-works, excluding 18 percent of VAT and for February production.
Due to the declines in import scrap prices, the softening of quotations in the local Turkish billet market and weak demand for finished steel in global markets, Turkish buyers have increased their pressure on import billet offers. Ex-CIS billet prices have decreased by $5/mt over the past week to the range of $260-265/mt CFR, while buyers’ firm bids are below $260/mt CFR. Even though Chinese billet offers to Turkey have remained stable in the same period at $255-260/mt CFR, market players state that prices higher than $250/mt CFR have not gained the acceptance of Turkish buyers.