Black Sea billet prices continue to trace Turkish scrap gains of the past fortnight, pushing sellers' offers up, but leaving enough space for lower-priced alternatives, Kallanish observes.

Some Russian sellers have returned with offers ranging from $560-580/tonne cfr Turkey, netting back to $535-560/t fob Black Sea, depending on the supplier. This comes after sales were concluded last week at around $550/t cfr Turkey, almost in line with sellers' offers at the time.

This week's new, higher offers are not yet popular amongst Turkish re-rollers, who booked around 25,000 tonnes of billet from the domestic supplier this week at $600-610/t ex-works. They are testing domestic and export markets with new, higher wire rod and rebar prices (see separate story). Besides, Turkey still has the option of sourcing Iranian billet at a much lower $525-535/t cfr, and Algerian material, albeit of limited 150mm cross section, at around $560-570/t cfr, netting back to around $530-540/t fob.

Russian mills are not prepared to reduce prices, with quotes from coastal mills increasing proportionately to lead times shortening. This is despite demand from Egypt and Tunisia not exceeding $540-545/t cfr, netting back to close to $500/t fob, and being rejected. Instead, some Russian suppliers are set to test the Middle East and North Africa with new wire rod offers this week. They will also continue to serve the domestic market, where demand appears surprisingly sufficient to not sacrifice on prices, while still producing at close to full capacity, one producer tells Kallanish.

As scrap continues to push up and China's recovery appears ongoing, buyers of billet in ASEAN are also starting to lift indications. Some Russian material was heard sold from eastern ports at close to $550/t cfr, netting back to $520-530/t fob amid somewhat lifted expectations. Most buyers however continue to indicate around $20/t below these prices, reflecting low trading volumes. Regional suppliers' offers have risen to $560-580/t cfr, traders say, but have not yet been accepted by buyers either.