Although it is observed that trading activity in the local Turkish billet market is still not lively as purchases are made only in line with buyers’ needs, the billet sale opened by Turkish mill Kardemir yesterday, April 17, caused a slight stir in the market. The mill had opened its sales yesterday morning at the level of TRY 2,160/mt ($528/mt) ex-works for S235JR billet and at TRY 2,180/mt ($533/mt) ex-works for MT III-A billet, both excluding VAT and closed them at midday after selling about 84,000 mt in total. It is observed that the buyers of Kardemir’s billet were mostly Iskenderun-based rolling mills which make regular purchases from the mill.
On the other hand, market sources report that domestic billet offers in the Turkish market are not plentiful, while the offers heard are at $530-540/mt ex-works.
Market sources state that the domestic billet trade has slowed down in Turkey due to the weakness of the steel demand received by Turkish rolling mills from both domestic and export markets, while they are expecting domestic billet purchases to be made only in line with needs for another while.
$1 = TRY 4.09 (April 17)