Slack demand in Turkish billet market

Last week, Turkish mills' steel billet export offers were standing at $630-635/mt FOB on actual weight basis, for shipments in late January. Moving to the current week, Turkish producers have softened their steel billet export offers by $5/mt to $625-630/mt FOB on actual weight basis, for shipments in late January and early February, due to slack demand and more competitive ex-CIS offers.
 
SteelOrbis has learned from market sources that CIS traders are offering February production 3SP-5SP steel billet to export markets at $605-615/mt FOB, for March shipments.
 
In the meantime, steel billet prices in the Turkish domestic market this week have been at $622-630/mt ex-works, exclusive of 18 percent VAT. As SteelOrbis has previously reported, local producer Kardemir had opened its domestic steel billet sales in the last week of December at the price range of $622-627/mt + VAT ex-works. Kardemir's billet sales are still open.
 
With the slowing down of construction projects in Turkey due to winter conditions, long steel demand has showed no improvement lately, resulting in sluggish billet demand.