The
CIS origin
billet price was around $430-440/mt FOB Black Sea this week. As the
billet purchases from
Iran are still continuing, there is no great possibility of finding much
billet for export from
Russia. Most offers in the market are ex-
Ukraine. Offers to the ports of
Turkey are around $450-465/mt CFR, varying between north and south. The figures Turkish buyers are willing to offer now are around $430/mt FOB, but it has been heard that some mills can find buyers in North
Africa at around $440/mt FOB levels. Meanwhile, it is not possible to obtain any offers for the Gulf below $470/mt CFR.
In the Turkish domestic market, the figures mentioned for
billet trading are around $470-480/mt. In the beginning of the week, Kardemir sold 25,000 metric tons at $471/mt and then stopped selling. Similarly, it has also been heard that Isdemir sold approximately 70.000 metric tons at around 470$/mt. With these sales, Isdemir seems to have been booked out almost up to April. On the exports side, finding large cargos is not possible. Generally, the mills with excessive
billet in hand are consuming their billets in the domestic market. Only a few mills prefer to export billets instead of
wire rods, as the
wire rod prices have not reached the desired level yet. In the beginning of the week, the export price of
Turkey origin
billet was at $460-465/mt FOB
Turkey Ports. However, after the
scrap bookings above the $300/mt CFR
Turkey level and the increase in
rebar prices, Turkish mills also increased their prices. Indeed, a deal to North
Africa at $470/mt FOB level has even been heard.
In
Italy, the prices were around Euro 370-375/mt delivered to customer's premises throughout the week. The high-priced offers from the
CIS ($465/mt CFR
Italy and over) and
Turkey (over $490/mt CFR) may support the
billet prices in
Italy. The difficulty in finding billets for prompt shipment from both
Turkey and the
CIS may also be an advantage for Italian
billet producers. Besides, it is not possible to say that the Italian
rebar and
wire rod markets have become fully active yet. The increase in the period ahead in
Italy's long steel market may also lift up
billet prices in the domestic market.
The current strong movement of the
billet market in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean also looks like it will continue in the future.
Russia, which cannot supply many billets to the Mediterranean due to the continuing demand in
Iran, may withdraw from the market completely when the domestic
rebar demand begins to increase in the spring. In the first two quarters of 2006, it was possible to find cargos for prompt shipment from the mills in the
CIS; however, because of the incredible increase in Russian domestic demand in the second quarter, most Ukrainian mills started to sell their products off the
production line. Recently, most of the rolling mills in the
Middle East found it difficult to keep in step with this situation. However, if the
billet market continues its strong movement, the rolling mills will have no other option but to get used to making purchases.