Turkey’s billet market has shown some activity this week in terms of imports, though deals have remained sporadic rather than sustainable. Higher scrap prices have urged a few buyers to restock with billet, with the duty-free origin being preferred. In the local market, there has not been much movement seen during the past week, considering the increased scrap prices, while the workable prices for rebar are not high enough. Some activity has been seen for exports at rather high price levels to North Africa, while some urgent requirements have been reported from the GCC amid persistent domestic production problems in the region.
According to sources, a fresh deal for 50,000 mt of billet from Malaysia has been concluded at $533/mt CFR to the Iskenderun region, while earlier levels of slightly below $530/mt CFR had been rumored. The initial offers for a June shipment cargo from Malaysia were reported $535-540/mt CFR. Currently, no fresh offers for this origin have been reported. Ukrainian mills have also been out of the Turkish market, considering the limited allocation and higher workable prices in Europe. Some sources assume the indicative offer level to Turkish mills would not be less than $555-560/mt CFR. Chinese billet indications have been at $520-525/mt CFR in the latest offers, with the most recent deals closed at $515/mt CFR, SteelOrbis reported.
Offers from Russia and Donbass have not been firm as of early this week, but the buyers’ side is mainly expected to accept prices within $505-510/mt, up from $502.5-507/mt CFR in the latest deals. “Paying close to $510/mt [for Russian origin] would be healthy since we now have scrap at $410/mt and local billet at $535/mt ex-works minimum as per the latest Kardemir sales,” a trading source said. The SteelOrbis daily reference price for ex-Russia billet to be shipped from the Black Sea is now at $475-485/mt FOB, up $5/mt over the past week. The cargoes are mainly available for end-of-May and early June shipments.
In the local market, billet trade has been silent so far, with offers in the Iskenderun region remaining at $550-555/mt ex-works, while rebar price levels in the same area have been at $585-588/mt ex-works. “It seems these levels are not quite workable since rebar is not ‘flying’ above $600/mt here,” a source commented. In the Izmir region, the domestic billet offers are indicative and at $555-560/mt ex-works. As for exports, Turkey is maintaining $560-565/mt FOB levels and, according to sources, around 30,000 mt of billet have been recently sold to Morocco within this price range. Inquiries keep coming from the GCC, specifically from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but the workable price would not be more than $530-540/mt CFR Jeddah and Sohar, while Turkish aims would not be less than $585-590/mt CFR at best.
