Posted on 06 Nov 2025
Turkish benchmark blast furnace long steelmaker Kardemir sold around 75,000 tonnes of billet in an hour after announcing a tender on Wednesday.
The producer kept its billet prices unchanged at $500/tonne for 150mm S235JR-grade billet and $510/t for B420 grade, from its previous sales on 15 October, Kallanish notes. These values exclude 20% VAT.
Kardemir offered a discount of 1% for orders over 500 tonnes on a cash payment basis.
The lira stood at around TRY 42.11/dollar on Wednesday morning local time.
Kardemir’s deferred payment option and its decision to keep billet prices unchanged despite the recent rise in scrap costs generated buyer interest in its material. This is also being supported by new requirements obliging Turkish mills to source 25% of their steel input from the domestic market for the production of export-bound finished steel.
In the import market, China-origin billet was quoted at around $460-465/tonne cfr Türkiye on Wednesday. With Chinese sentiment weakening, Turkish producers expect prices to soon drop below $460/t cfr.
Facing sluggish steel sales and thin margins from scrap-based production, Turkish mills are inclined to favour imported billet once prices fall under this threshold, similar to levels seen during the previous round of billet purchases two weeks ago. However, even if such a decline materialises, mills are unlikely to commit to large-volume imported billet purchases given the continued weakness in steel exports.
“They [Turkish buyers] bought a lot [from Kardemir] – there is only limited interest left for [Russian-origin] imports,” one Russian trader notes. “Right now the bids will most likely be $445-450/t cfr, but the scrap price hasn't gone down yet.” On the billet offers from China at $460/t cfr, the same Russian trader queries: “This means it's arriving in Turkey in January-February? Does anyone really buy with that delivery time?”
“China offered at $460-465/t cfr [Türkiye]; therefore, the bids for Russian billet are at $455-460/t cfr,” a Russian producer source estimates.
“It’s possible to get bids at $447-450/t cfr both Marmara and Turkish Black Sea ports for billet. Russian billet offers are currently at $440-445/t fob [Black Sea]. People have just returned from holidays in Russia, and they need some time to evaluate costs and market conditions,” another Russian trader comments.
Based on Kardemir’s current price, he adds that $465/t cfr is achievable for Marmara or for Turkish Black Sea ports Bartin and Zonguldak. “I’m sure that if Turkish rerollers need material, they can agree to pay $465/t cfr Bartin,” he says. “However, they would likely insist on payment terms such as 50% upon arrival at the discharge port and the balance in 45-50 days, meaning hard negotiations with buyers will be necessary regarding both price and payment terms.”
Source:Kallanish
