As expected, Turkey’s Kardemir has announced new billet sales in the domestic market with a price increase, following the downturn in prices seen in the previous round of trade. The producer has managed to sell large volumes of billet in a rather short period of time since many of the regular customers have decided to restock.
Kardemir’s new offers have been announced at $500/mt ex-works for S235JR material and $510/mt ex-works for B420 steel grade. The prices have gone up by $15/mt since the sales handled at the end of February. Still, buyers have revealed a decent interest in Kardemir’s semis and booked 63,000 mt of billet, according to the information available by the time of publication. The sales have now been closed, while the final tonnage may vary.
The large sales by Kardemir in the domestic market are expected to undermine the positions of billet suppliers from Russia and Donbass to Turkey, despite the price increase. The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has increased by $5/mt on average from yesterday, March 12, to $440-450/mt FOB with the midpoint at $445/mt FOB Black Sea. “I would say we are coming closer to $470/mt CFR as a workable level for Russian billet,” a Turkish trader said. This level translates to $450/mt FOB or slightly below, while the previous deals were rumored at $455-465/mt CFR from some Russian suppliers to Turkey. One of the sellers from Russia said that they are seeing the level of $470/mt CFR in the future, but not at the moment, as the acceptable level for Turkish buyers.
In other regions of Turkey, Kardemir’s upward price move and the expectation of further upward steps to be taken by the producer have inspired other mills to also increase their prices. In the Izmir and Iskenderun regions, the local producers have increased their offers from $520-525/mt ex-works to $530-535/mt ex-works.