Turkey’s integrated Kardemir has announced fresh billet sales on February 23 and increased its prices to $665/mt ex-works for S235JR and $670/mt ex-works for B420 grade. The prices are for deferred payment. According to sources, the supplier succeeded in selling up to 70,000 mt and closed its sales. Last week, Kardemir opened billet sales at $635-640/mt ex-works and sold 20,000 mt.
Initially, buyers were expecting Kardemir to offer at lower prices, at around $645-650/mt ex-works depending on the grade. “Now the import [sellers] will make a move and, if rebar mills succeed in hitting $750/mt ex-works in sales, the workable billet prices will surely rise,” a trader said. Currently, the workable level for import billet from Russia is estimated at $620-630/mt CFR, versus the most recent sales at $613-616/mt CFR to Izmir and northern regions of Turkey and the latest one closed at $620/mt CFR Bartin. Moreover, some market sources expected $630/mt CFR may be reached and exceeded quite soon.
