The upward movement seen in Turkish
rebar export prices started since the beginning of October gave way to sideways movement at the beginning of last week. In the current week,
rebar purchases in
Turkey's target markets have been sluggish, while Turkish
rebar exporters' offers have increased by $5/mt on the upper end to $450-470/mt FOB on actual weight basis.
Meanwhile, US-based buyers' inventories are currently at high levels after their purchases of Turkish
rebar concluded over previous weeks. Trading activity in the US has slowed down slightly due to the Thanksgiving holiday (Nov. 24-25), negatively impacting demand for Turkish
rebar as US-based buyers have preferred to conclude purchases only in line with their immediate needs this week. Turkish
rebar offers to the US are currently in the range of $465-470/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis.
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE) market where Turkish buyers made their first
rebar sale last week after an interval of two months, local steel mill Emirates Steel Industries (ESI) has announced its domestic
rebar quotations at AED 1,732/mt ($472/mt) ex-works. Although Turkish steel producers have not set a pricing strategy for the UAE yet, it is reported that UAE-based steelmakers' order books are mostly full. Accordingly, demand in the UAE for Turkish
rebar may increase in the coming days, according to market sources. Meanwhile, no new
rebar offer from
Turkey to the UAE has been given this week and the latest Turkish
rebar offers to the country heard last week were at $440-445/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis.
While Turkish
rebar sales to Egypt continued unabated during most of November, buyers started to consider Turkish
rebar offers to be on the high side last week after local steel mills reduced their domestic
rebar prices. In the current week, the Egyptian
rebar market has been sluggish due to the fluctuation of the Egyptian pound-US dollar exchange rate. Meanwhile, buyers are waiting for domestic steel mill EZZ Steel to announce its new
rebar prices and are mostly maintaining a wait-and-see stance. As a result, demand for Turkish
rebar in Egypt has weakened significantly over the past week with market conditions making it difficult for Turkish exporters to conclude new
rebar sales to the country. A small number of deals for low tonnages of Turkish
rebar were heard in Egypt this week at $450/mt FOB, on actual weight basis.