Billet prices in most markets around the world tumbled to set fresh year-to-date lows last week amid sluggish demand in the downstream long steel markets.
The downturn in the Turkish ferrous scrap market also contributed to bearish sentiment. Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was $244.15 per tonne last Friday September 6, its lowest since January 2017. The Turkish price is a major indicator of the market because the country is the world's biggest importer of steel scrap.CIS, Egypt, TurkeyExport prices for steel billet from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have plunged since the beginning of August due to a lack of demand from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) amid weakening long steel markets and a sustained downtrend in international scrap prices.Billet producers had expected buying activity to improve after the Eid al-Adha holiday, which ended in mid-August, but this did not materialize. Egyptian customers were refraining from making fresh bookings for billet amid uncertainties over safeguard duties against imports of billet and...