Currently, Turkish billet buyers seem to be paying more attention to local sourcing while the offered price levels are quite workable, considering that most import options, especially from Asia, are for a much longer lead time and carry more risks. Chinese billet prices, which have dropped over the past week, are still the most attractive ones among Asian sellers. However, some buyers are hesitating to book at the decreased levels, thinking prices will drop more. “It depends on the trend in China. If the softening continues, they [buyers] may wait a bit to achieve lower levels,” a source told SteelOrbis.
Turkish integrated steel producer Kardemir has announced new billet sales in the domestic market, maintaining the prices of two weeks ago - $500/mt ex-works for S235JR grade and $510/mt ex-works for B420 grade. The producer has managed to sell over 76,000 mt of billet in a short period of time, which is higher than the usual volume. “It seems buyers either believe prices may increase in the short term or that there will be limited availability of short sea billet [from the Black Sea],” a market source commented to SteelOrbis.
In the other regions in Turkey, billet offers in the Iskenderun region are at $505-510/mt ex-works with the latest deals closed at $503-505/mt ex-works levels. In the Izmir region, the latest offers have been reported at $505-508/mt ex-works, while in the Marmara region some indications stand at $510-515/mt and up to $520/mt CPT, with the latter being unworkable against current rebar offers.
Import offers from China are now at $460-465/mt CFR for December shipments, down $10/mt week on week, while the buyers seem to be aiming to negotiate down to $455/mt CFR at the highest, which may result in some deals. However, some buyers may be cautious to buy BF billet for deliveries after January 1 as there are a lot of uncertainties in terms of extra CBAM costs. Indonesian and Malaysian billet are offered for January shipment at $470-475/mt and $490-495/mt CFR, respectively. The current offer for January shipment billet from Ukraine stands at $490/mt CFR, while the latest workable level for billet with the same lead time stood at around $485/mt CFR.
Russian billet sellers have been less active after their sales in October. The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has remained stable at $435-440/mt FOB after a small increase seen last week. Some small-volume negotiations have been held at $455/mt CFR for shipment by the middle of December. Some market sources believe that this price, even though in line with the previous bookings, should correspond more to ex-Donbass billets, which are usually offered at a discount. “There are not many offers from Russia, while freight for December is higher from the Black Sea,” a trader commented.