The positions of Turkish longs producers are currently quite shaky as the options for rebar sales are very much limited, both locally and abroad. Billet sales, to overseas markets specifically, is one of the ways to keep up business: however, the competition has become tougher. Rare billet deals for medium-sized lots have been reported in the market, with prices weakening further.
While earlier this week Turkey’s billet export offers were at $360-365/mt FOB with minor discounts definitely being possible, a 15,000 mt sale to Morocco at around $350/mt FOB has recently been disclosed to the market. As a result, the SteelOrbis weekly reference price for Turkish billet exports currently stands at $350-360/mt FOB, indicating a $30-35/mt fall over the past one week. Workable levels for ex-CIS billet are at $340-345/mt FOB, being quite competitive compared to prices from Turkey.