Billet sellers have been closely watching the Turkish market this week, where the scrap, longs and semis prices have shown a tremendous increase. In particular, billet sales have been lively domestically in Turkey with a rather sharp rise in the transacted price levels, thus adding optimism on the import side. Moreover, there are a lot of hopes that China’s import prices will surge, supporting both CIS-based and Turkish billet sellers.
According to sources, early this week a 10,000 mt deal in Turkey’s Marmara region was closed at $645/mt ex-works and a similar volume was sold in Izmir at $640/mt ex-works. Similar price levels are on offer in the Karabuk region, though with no fresh deals reported. The highest activity is seen in the Iskenderun region where the week started with sales at $640-643/mt ex-works, followed by deals for 20,000 mt at $650/mt ex-works and then 15,000 mt at $660/mt ex-works. Moreover, some sources report that deals today have been closed at $670/mt ex-works in the same region. Overall, local deal prices in Turkey have surged by at least $40/mt on average over the past week.
This situation in Turkey provides support for import price levels. “Ten days ago, it was hard to sell at $615/mt CFR and now I think we can easily count on $650/mt CFR or even higher a bit,” a supplier told SteelOrbis. CIS-based sellers are expected to first evaluate the situation in China, although sales to Turkey are also foreseen to be closed in the near future.
In terms of exports, no solid offers have been voiced by Turkish mills as they are expected to meet local demand first. However, some sources expect their prices may rise further by at least $40-50/mt soon, mainly due to China’s influence.