GLOBAL BILLET WRAP: Prices track gains in scrap market despite weak long steel demand

Major steel billet prices around the world continued to strengthen last week with suppliers securing higher prices for their materials amid increasingly costlier ferrous scrap.

Scrap prices in Turkey, the world's largest importer of the steelmaking raw material, breached the psychological $300-per-tonne level for the first time in five months last Friday December 13, though limited demand for Turkish long steel products could eventually dampen market sentiment, sources said.
CIS, Egypt, Turkey
Fastmarkets' daily steel billet index, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $411 per tonne on last Friday, up $11 from $400 per tonne a week earlier.
Mills in the Commonwealth of Independent States were mostly bullish about the billet market although some sources were concerned that the higher prices could lead to increased supply and undermine further growth amid poor demand for long steel products downstream.
Nonetheless, a majority of market participants in the CIS expect the positive mood to continue for at least the next few weeks.

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