Steel billet prices in most markets around the world continued on an upward trend in the week ended Friday November 8 amid a recovery in scrap prices in the bellwether Turkish import market.
Market participants consider Turkey's scrap import prices to be a major indicator of scrap price trends because the country is the world's largest importer of the steelmaking raw material.Fastmarkets' assessment of the price for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, had rebounded to $260.17 per tonne on November 8, up by more than $30 per tonne since hitting a year-to-date low of $225.88 on October 1.CIS, Egypt, TurkeyCIS suppliers raised their billet offers because of the rebound in scrap prices although customers refrained from making any bookings amid slow demand for finished long steel products.Nonetheless, the mills maintained their offers because they were in no hurry to offload December-rolling volumes at the start of November, market sources said.Fastmarkets' daily steel billet index, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was calculated at $375 per tonne on November 8, up by $5 per tonne from November 1.Billet produced in...