In the first week of January the mood in some of the world's major steel billet markets turned bearish because of a lack of demand and weakening prices for finished long steel products.
Turkey
In Turkey, both import and export billet prices have softened over the past week, in line with falling offers for rebar and wire rod as well as poor demand.
Offers of CIS-origin billet from traders were reported at $420 per tonne cfr, down by $5 per tonne week on week, while the highest bids from Turkish customers were heard at $410 per tonne, sources said.
Offers from CIS mills were limited last week due to holidays in the region. There were public holidays in Russia from January 1 to January 8, while in Ukraine the official holidays were December 25, December 30, January 1 and January 6-7.
"Reflecting the downturn in the rebar and wire rod prices, Turkish billet prices have also gone down over the past week," a Turkish source said. "Apparently, higher prices did not work."
Turkish producers lowered their rebar offers to $440-455 per tonne fob...