During the past week, demand for Turkish rebar in the export markets has continued to show diverse trends. Turkish exporters' rebar offers have increased by $5/mt on the upper end week on week to $380-405/mt FOB amid the rises seen in scrap and billet quotations since the beginning of October and due to the upward movement of domestic rebar prices in Turkish exporters' target markets.
Following the hike from eight percent to 13 percent recorded in VAT in Egypt in the middle of September, Turkish rebar sales to this destination have accelerated, though the problem of tightness of foreign exchange availability in Egypt still exists. Egyptian buyers consider domestic rebar quotations to be on the high side and so demand for Turkish rebar in the country is still at medium levels. Also, in the current week Egypt-based steelmakers EZZ Steel, Beshay Steel, El Marakaby and AlGhioshy have revised their domestic rebar prices upwards, causing Turkish rebar exporters to raise their offers to Egypt by an average of $7.5/mt to $400-405/mt FOB on actual weight basis. According to market sources, new Turkish rebar deals have been concluded in this range.
On the other hand, demand for Turkish rebar in the US is still at low levels as US-based buyers still consider Turkish rebar offers to be on the high side. Despite the current demand situation, Turkish steel producers want to increase their rebar offers to the US due to the ongoing rises seen in scrap quotations. Currently, Turkish rebar offers to the US are at $390-400/mt CFR.
At the beginning of the current week, UAE-based steelmaker Emirates Steel Industries (ESI) increased its rebar prices for November production by AED 29/mt ($8/mt) to AED 1,451/mt ($395/mt) ex-works, as compared to its previous prices announced on September 9 for October output materials. Although domestic rebar prices in the UAE market have increased slightly, UAE-based buyers still consider Turkish rebar offers to be on the high side. Meanwhile, Turkish steelmakers, experiencing difficulties in gaining acceptance from UAE-based buyers, prefer not to give offers to the country.