Turkey’s integrated producer Kardemir, as expected, opened its billet sales at the end of the current week and the announced price is lower than expected. Specifically, the supplier has given offers at least $20/mt lower than from mills in other regions of Turkey, but its price makes sense according to the recent workable prices for rebar. At the same time, Kardemir’s price has put some ceiling on the achievable import levels, particularly for ex-Black Sea origins.
On April 26, Kardemir opened its billet sales at $545/mt for S235JR and $560/mt for B420 grade, both on ex-works basis. Initially, market players were expecting $550-555/mt ex-works minimum. “It was their move against cheap offers from Donbass and eventually Kardemir sold around 60,000 mt,” a trader told SteelOrbis. Billet suppliers in other regions of Turkey have been aiming for around $565-580/mt ex-works depending on the tonnage, which has been workable for merchant bar producers but not for rebar mills, who are offering and selling at $590-610/mt ex-works mainly.
Kardemir’s sales and set price have somewhat cooled off the cautiously bullish mood in the import segment which had been observed earlier. Previously, the indications from Russian and Donbass for shipment in the second half of May stood at $525-530/mt CFR and prompt shipment cargoes were at $540/mt CFR, versus $525/mt CFR bids which were not accepted. “Now Russian billet should be workable at no higher than $525/mt CFR,” a seller told SteelOrbis.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Russia square billet to be shipped from the Black Sea are now set at $500-505/mt FOB, down $2.5/mt from the previous day. “We were expecting a rebound for billet, but it didn’t happen,” a trader said.
Offers for Asian origin billet to Turkey have remained at $540-545/mt CFR for June shipments, up from sales at $515-525/mt CFR and higher closed a couple of weeks back, as SteelOrbis reported. The latest prices from Ukraine have been reported at around $545-550/mt CFR for June production.