Despite sluggish end-user demand, CIS and Turkish billet prices had previously been maintaining strong levels under the influence of the strength of raw material prices. However, after Ramadan, the billet prices in question have registered a downtrend since the expected demand from the Middle East has not materialized and also since raw material prices are slackening.
Meanwhile, along with the lack of finished steel demand in the Middle East, due to the downtrend in rebar prices in the CIS and Turkey, demand for both finished and semi-finished steel in these regions have decreased.
It is thought that the main reason behind the price downtrend in CIS billets has been the decrease in ex-Turkey billet offer prices in the international markets, which has accordingly led to the decline of the billet prices of CIS producers and traders, both of which are in competition with Turkish billets. In the current week, ex-CIS billet export offers have been at $430-445/mt FOB, while Turkish export offers have been at $450-455/mt FOB.
In the Turkish domestic market, billet price levels for large tonnage deals have this week been at $445-450/mt ex-works excluding VAT. However, it is heard that the local rebar rolling mills find this price difficult to work with.