Most Turkish longs producers remain out of the market for import billet citing relatively stable scrap quotations, slow rebar sales and the generally bearish market mood. Most of the billet offers from Asia are with a long lead time, while the availability of billet from the Black Sea region is currently limited. Sources expect a couple of large cargoes still to be booked from Asia in the short term for deliveries in the November-December period, though the buyers would insist on discounts of at least $10/mt from the suppliers.
Import offers from China have been mainly reported at $470-475/mt CFR for end-of-October shipments, relatively stable over the past week. Some sources have been reporting a sale at $470/mt CFR with no details disclosed to the market yet. However, most market players believe the level is too high to be workable. The bids are rare from Turkish mills and those who are voicing their price ideas seem not to be eager to pay anything above $460-462/mt CFR. “Current prices seem workable versus domestic rebar and captive billet production costs, but the thing is that not many mills are in the market and they are mainly not in a position to book for end-of-November and December deliveries,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
Offers from Malaysia and Indonesia remain indicative at $485-490/mt and $485/mt CFR, respectively. Offers from Ukraine for November shipments are at $490/mt CFR at the lowest, in line with the previous week’s levels.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet is unchanged at $440/mt FOB Black Sea. One contract has been rumored at $458/mt CFR, but most buyers said that this level is on the low side, but “possible for Donbass origin”. In addition to ex-Russia deals reported last week, additional tonnage from one of the Russian mills is heard to have been sold at the stable price of $460-465/mt CFR. So, “now buyers more or less replenished stocks,” a source said.
In the domestic market, billet prices are at $502-505/mt ex-works in the Iskenderun region and at $500-505/mt ex-works in the Izmir region. Demand is said to be on the low side, considering the slow rebar trade and the overall bearish market expectations.
