Turkish integrated steel producer Kardemir has opened its new 150 mm billet sales on November 7, decreasing its prices by $15/mt compared to two weeks ago. The new offers stand at $520/mt for S235JR and $545/mt for B420 grade, both on ex-works basis. The supplier has managed to trade at least 45,000 mt, but some market sources assume the total will be at least 50,000-60,000 mt. “They [Kardemir] removed their discount for purchases of over 5,000 mt. There is just a one percent discount for over 500 mt. It is $514.8/mt ex-works for 100 percent cash and over 500 mt,” a market player told SteelOrbis.
In the Iskenderun region, billet prices have also slid over the past week. While earlier the mills were targeting around $580/mt ex-works and above, the most recent indications are at $565-570/mt ex-works, SteelOrbis has learned.
In the import billet segment, Turkish mills are overall rather hesitant to conclude purchases and only rare buyers have decided to book. According to sources, there was a small sale early this week to Turkey’s Black Sea region at $486-487/mt CFR, down from $490-495/mt CFR workable levels last week. As a result, given also some pressure from buyers with new bids for ex-Russia and ex-Donbass billet at $470-475/mt CFR, the SteelOrbis daily reference price for Russian billet now stands at $462-465/mt FOB, down from $465-470/mt FOB seen earlier this week.
In the ex-Asia billet segment, according to sources, there has been a booking from Vietnam. It has been reported that an international trader has booked 50,000 mt of billet for December shipment at $468/mt FOB. Turkish market players, for their part, have reported a transaction from Vietnam at $505/mt CFR, while earlier the delivered indication stood at as high as $525/mt CFR. In the meantime, offers from China and Malaysia remain indicative at $510-515/mt and $525-530/mt CFR, respectively.
Overall, taking into account Kardemir’s billet price cut and its sales, Turkish importers’ workable price idea for billet has generally lost around $10/mt for now. In terms of buying from Asia, the long lead time still remains the main issue.