In Turkey, the billet import market continues seeing a limited number of offers, particularly from the Black Sea region, while some interest might be there for Asian origins, following a long break in purchases of large cargoes. Still, no boom in demand is expected to be seen in the near future, since Turkish rebar sales are still under some pressure, while the scrap price trend is negative for now. In Egypt, some traders see more potential to accept the current import billet offers compared to Turkey, given higher rebar prices and a certain lull in purchases seen previously.
This week, the indications for Asian, namely Malaysian and Indonesian billet origins, have been reported at $530-540/mt CFR levels. In fact, some positions have been taken by international traders for sizeable lots within the range of $490-500/mt FOB, as SteelOrbis reported earlier. Some sources reported that at least one of the 50,000 mt lots has already been sold to Turkey at around $525-530/mt CFR. In addition, sources report there is information about at least two ex-China billet cargoes sold to Turkey at $508-520/mt CFR over the past two weeks, which is quite possible since the workable Chinese billet prices then stood at $480/mt FOB and below. “It seems up to 200,000 mt of Asian billet have been sold to Turkey since before the holiday, but the full details are yet to be known,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
In addition to Turkey, Egypt is targeted by billet sellers with at least one 50,000 mt lot booked from Indonesia for this destination by an international trader at $500/mt FOB, which makes around $535-540/mt CFR Egypt, SteelOrbis estimates.
According to buyers, there are hardly any billet offers around from the Black Sea region. Only some report indications from Donbass at $530/mt CFR for late April-early May shipment, while prompt shipment cargoes from Russia are still on offer at $540/mt CFR. The bids are rare and the highest of them have been seen at around $520/mt CFR, with no deals reported. In Egypt, an additional 5,000 mt were sold last week from Russia at $515/mt FOB for prompt shipments, which translates to around $505/mt FOB for May. The SteelOrbis daily reference price for ex-Russia billet has been increased by $5-10/mt over the past week to $495-505/mt FOB, with the midpoint at $500/mt FOB.