Today, on October 18, Turkey’s integrated Kardemir has opened billet sales in the domestic market at a price, which has been considered as acceptable by the buyers. Along with the offer being in line with the market level, the inactive billet import segment has also given a little push to Kardemir’s sales. Currently, the number of offers particularly from Russia and Donbas is minimal, taking into account the continuing uncertainty with the Russia’s export taxes, while Turkish buyers have bene resisting to accept higher prices due to overall unfavorable market.
Kardemir has announced its billet offer to the domestic market at $520/mt and $525/mt ex-works depending on the steel grade and has sold up to 30,000 mt of billet, sources report. At the end of September, Kardemir’s billet price stood at $532/mt ex-works for S235JR and $542/mt ex-works for B420. In other Turkey’s regions, the billet price is estimated at $530-535/mt ex-works Iskenderun minimum, while certain offers are still reaching $540-545/mt ex-works. No solid offers have been reported in the Izmir region, while at the end of the past week there was an offer at $545/mt ex-works.
The number of offers for ex-Black Sea billet has been still limited this week. A few offers for ex-Donbass and ex-Belarus billets have been reported at $500/mt CFR Turkey, down by $5/mt from last week’s levels. This level translates to $470-475/mt FOB Black Sea for medium volume. “But Belarus or Donbass can be finalized at around $495/mt CIF,” a Turkish mill said.
However, no new deals have been reported from Black Sea to Turley lately with a number of suppliers deciding to withdraw offers. “No one [in Turkey] will buy at $500/mt CFR, though it was workable earlier. I think, billet exports [from Russia] will be suspended for the coming 1-1.5 months,” a trader said, selling billet from Black and Azov Sea said.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Black Sea billet has been lowered by $5-10/mt since late last week to $470-480/mt FOB, where the lower end translates to the lowest possible for Turkey and the higher end – to offers to Egypt, though trading has been also reduced in the latter.
Offers for alternative origins have also been rare in Turkey. Ex-Malaysia, ex-Indonesia and ex-China billets are available at $530-535/mt CFR, which is not workable for the buyers, who will prefer the local purchases at such or lower prices.
