The number of import billet offers remains scarce in Turkey, mainly due to the fact that most of the mills in the southern part of Russia are currently not operating. Sources report the recently announced military mobilization and earlier experienced financial issues and debts are the main reasons for the halting of production. “Mills lost 30-40 percent of workers to the army and around 20-30 percent are trying to flee,” a source said. The billet flow from the Donbass region has also been limited. As a result, some suppliers are just watching the market, while only a few are offering their billet from previously piled up stocks. In the meantime, the firmer scrap prices in Turkey have become a reason for a certain price optimism in the billet segment as well.
In the import segment, a small billet sale has been reported as closed to Turkey early this week at $540/mt CFR, but now the workable levels are estimated at $550-560/mt CFR. Some sellers comment they would offer $560-570/mt CFR minimum to the Black Sea and Marmara regions of Turkey. One Russia-based supplier is in the market with ready cargoes at $580/mt CFR in initial offers but may be ready to sell at $570/mt CFR.
Aside from Russia, there has been talk about offers from Iran and Azerbaijan at $535/mt CFR and below. The indications from Asia have been heard at $590/mt CFR from Indonesia, versus a $564/mt CFR Izmir deal closed last week. India, according to sources, is at $600/mt CFR minimum. All offers from Asia are for November shipments. In addition, some sources have been reporting Saudi Arabia was in the market with offers of around $540-550/mt CFR, trying to sell billet along with earlier booked slabs. However, details have not been disclosed by the time of publication.
In the domestic billet market in Turkey, the prices in the Iskenderun region have been kept at $620-630/mt ex-works, with no deals reported lately. In the Izmir region, one of the producers is still at $630/mt ex-works, while a small trial lot of billet from brand new production has been booked this week at $615/mt ex-works. In the Marmara area, according to buyers, the price idea is still at $635/mt CPT. Many expect Kardemir to announce new sales next week with around a $10-15/mt increase from the previous $610-615/mt ex-works sales level.
Ex-Russia billet daily reference price has increased by $10-15/mt to $515-530/mt FOB Black Sea with the midpoint at $522.5/mt FOB. This has been attributed to the higher targeted prices by sellers and the overall limited number of offers. The lower end of the range corresponds to the lowest levels heard to North Africa, Tunisia in particular, from last week, and the tradable level in Turkey. The higher end corresponds to Russian sellers’ targeted level. “Russian deals have been at $555-565/mt CFR Turkey,” a trader said, though this could not be confirmed by the time of publication.