Turkish integrated mill Kardemir has announced its new billet offers at $580/mt for S235JR and $590/mt for B420 grade, both on ex-works basis, up $21/mt from the producer’s sales price a week ago. According to sources, within several hours Kardemir closed its sales selling approximately 35,000 mt, which is lower than the usual tonnage. “Maybe they saw the demand and didn’t want to sell more, or maybe their allocation together with last week’s sales is not so big,” a trader told SteelOrbis. In other regions of Turkey, the assessed price level for billet is at around $580-590/mt ex-works at present, although the upper end is still considered to be a little on the higher side, especially for rebar rollers. However, some market players expect $600/mt ex-works to be offered quite soon.
Overall, the acceptance of such a price has been somewhat surprising for some market players given that the big surge in scrap prices is more or less over and import billet offers have remained relatively stable. In particular, as SteelOrbis reported, a total of 20,000 mt of Russian billet for prompt shipment have been recently booked in four deals at $538-545/mt CFR Karabuk and the offer at $545/mt CFR is still valid after Kardemir’s sales. Non-Russian origins, particularly from the MENA region, have been sold to Turkey at below $560/mt CFR, as reported, while Asian suppliers are indicating the highest price now, at $565-580/mt CFR depending on the tonnage. “There has been a need for domestic billet here,” a source said commenting on Kardemir’s sales. “And since the availability of prompt import cargoes is limited , if you need to restock, you need to buy locally,” he added.