Billet import prices have indicated another slump in the Turkish market, mainly driven by the ex-China price decrease. However, a majority of Turkish mills have remained uninterested in new purchases due to some restocking done earlier, but a couple of transactions have still been reported by those who had been waiting until now to purchase. Another reason for Turkish buyers to mostly taking their time is the decline in import scrap prices in recent deals.
The latest ex-China billet offers have been reported at $475-480/mt CFR Turkey, versus $485-495/mt CFR heard late last week, while deals in late July were closed mainly at $485-490/mt CFR for large tonnages. Ex-Indonesia billet offers have been reported this week at $485-490/mt CFR, down $15/mt over the past week and, according to some sources, a large batch may have been sold at the end of last week within this range. In addition, it has been reported that a HRC producer in Turkey has booked both slab and billet cargoes from a Malaysian producer at around $510-515/mt CFR and $505/mt CFR, respectively. No fresh offers for billet from Malaysia have been heard yet.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has settled at $460-470/mt FOB Black Sea, moving down by $5/mt on average from yesterday and by $7.5/mt since late last week. The tradable level for billet from Donbass, the Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia, is as low as $480/mt CFR, as confirmed by a few traders and Turkish mills, while ex-Russia billet could be sold at $490/mt CFR Turkish Black Sea. “Small-volumes deals are done from the CIS at these levels,” a Turkish source said. Though the previous bids for ex-Donbass and ex-Russia billets were at $490-495/mt CFR, market sources said that the pressure from the scrap market and the generally bearish mood have impacted prices, even though there are still limited offers for short lead times and small volumes. “This price [$480/mt CFR for Donbas billet] looks fairly possible from the market point of view, if the trader needs to push deals,” a Russian selling source said.