Import billet trading has increased somewhat in Turkey lately mainly due to limited local supply and also the lack of many options from overseas, with prices being relatively stable from the previous levels. However, suppliers are hoping for some small increase in the near future, which, however, has been assessed skeptically by importers for now.
According to the market sources, up to 20,000 mt of ex-Malaysia billet have been traded at $530/mt CFR Iskenderun or just slightly higher, which is in line with offers heard last week. The Malaysian material is duty-free, so it is popular in Turkey. One of the traders said that ex-Indonesia billet can be offered at the same price, but Turkish buyers prefer ex-Malaysia duty free material and in smaller volumes.
Moreover, in addition to this, two lots of ex-Algeria billet amounting to 35,000-37,000 mt in total have been rumored as sold at $530-534/mt CFR, with at least one of the sales being confirmed by the time of publication. Lately, ex-Asia and ex-Algeria billet prices have been almost similar in Turkey as Algeria has the advantage of shorter lead times and this is important in the current market with its limited supply.
Also, there has been a deal for at least 10,000-20,000 mt of Russian billet to a Marmara-based mill at $518/mt CFR and a few traders have said that this price - even though it is hard to confirm - for sanctioned material sounds correct. This level translates to around $498/mt FOB Black Sea. “Sellers are trying to increase sales prices to $520-525/mt CFR, but have failed for now,” a trader said. Some small rise in scrap prices last week has been behind these attempts, but, since the situation in the finished steel market is still difficult, buyers have been resisting any billet price hikes. The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has settled at $498-500/mt FOB, up by $6.5/mt on average from last week.
The tradable level for imported billet in Egypt has been at $530-535/mt CFR this week, while trading has been slack and some offers have been too high for buyers in a wide range of $540-570/mt CFR for different origins.
