Billet trading activity has been fading away in Turkey in the pre-holiday week, but also following the deals, closed earlier. According to sources, in the previous week Turkey booked small lots from Russia and larger volumes of the alternative, cleaner origins. Currently, the market is mainly silent with few offers from Russia as the mills are not in the mood to offer actively being mainly sold and also while expecting a slight rebound after the holidays. Offers from MENA region and Asia are there being mainly on the high side, though some suppliers have decided to provide certain discounts.
Sources reported a 5,000 mt deal at $550/mt CFR Aliaga. Initially, the supplier offered $559/mt CFR last week and is at $560-565/mt CFR this week depending on the Turkish region. In addition, last week there was an offer at $555/mt CFR to the northern part of the country and some of the market players believe the deal was concluded at a slightly lower price and most probably for the prompt shipment. Currently, the workable price level for the Russian billet in Turkey is seen at $550/mt CFR on the average, which relatively in line with the past week. “Maybe the clients would confirm this or slightly lower price, but the suppliers are mainly not there to offer. They are hoping the market will firm up after the holiday and the prices will improve,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia billet has been settled at $520/mt FOB Black Sea, up by $2.5/mt from late last week, but all new targets and rare offers heard this week are at $530/mt FOB Black Sea, market sources said.
Along with the Russian origin, offer for ex-Malaysia billets have remained at $580-585/mt CFR, while Indonesia is at $590/mt CFR. The price for ex-Algeria position cargo decreased by around $10-15/mt over the week to $570-577/mt CFR depending on the region with no deals reported yet. In addition, according to sources, a 25,000 mt cargo was sold last week from Qatar to Turkey’s Izmir region at $560/mt CFR, which is considered a low price level for this origin.
No significant movement is expected to be seen this week in the billet market and most of the market players are cautiously optimistic regarding the trade and prices after the holidays. However, some of them expect the market being positive to be short lived. “It seems like the dynamics of the raw material supply volume will outweigh the aspect of the demand for rebar,” a trader told SteelOrbis.