The billet market remains active in Turkey and supportive of ex-CIS mills, while there are not many other sales destinations ready to pay high prices today. Early this week, an Iskenderun region-based steel producer has sold 10,000 mt of billet at $510/mt ex-works, up $10/mt from the previous deal levels. Current offers are at $515/mt ex-works in the region. In the Izmir region, one seller is indicating $540/mt ex-works, while the allocation is seriously limited. In the Karabuk region, according to sources, there is literally no billet from the local producers.
While domestic billet availability is limited, there is good room for imports. There have been a lot of discussions regarding the deals to the Izmir and Iskenderun regions at $508-510/mt CFR and one of them may have been closed for wire rod grade semis. As of now, there is information about one or two deals at $515-516/mt CFR or $500/mt FOB from the CIS, but it has not been confirmed by the time of publication. Offers are mainly coming at $515-520/mt CFR and up to $535/mt CFR from some mills. As a result, import prices have increased by around $10-15/mt since the middle of last week.