Turkish rebar producers have still not achieved their expected sales tonnages due to the general silence in the rebar markets after the recent religious holidays, in a context of rising raw material costs and low demand in the export markets.
Rebar demand in Turkey has been slow this week, as the local market has been suffering from bad weather conditions and a lack of end-user activity.
No great activity has been observed in the Middle East markets either so soon after the conclusion of the annual season for the pilgrimage to Mecca and the Feast of Sacrifice holiday. The domestic market in Dubai is still very quiet. Local buyers are still in wait-and-see mode as they seek to understand how the announcement of the debt payment delay will affect the rebar market in the emirate. Turkish mills' latest offers to this market are at $490-500/mt CFR, while not so many transactions have been observed.
While the situation in the Omani rebar market in general seems more positive compared to the rebar market in Dubai, no great tonnage volume is being traded in this market. On the other hand, local producers have been frustrated by the lack of any big projects in Jordan's 2010 budget plans. Thus, it is observed that production is very slow now in this country.
While it is observed that construction works are slow in Yemen due to the recently-concluded holidays, this week buyers are waiting without making further purchases in this market where previously-concluded material has been delivered in recent weeks.
Rebar demand has not increased in Saudi Arabia, contrary to expectations for the period following the pilgrimage season. Local producers in this country do not expect any downtrend in demand up to the end of this year, but expect to see a revival of demand in the New Year. In this market where no price change has been observed for weeks, local producer SABIC has this week reduced its rebar prices only for 8 mm and 10 mm, by SAR 210/mt.
Turkish producers are having trouble in reflecting their rising raw material costs on to their finished steel products, and are struggling to sell their finished products at the expected price levels and in the anticipated quantities due to the limited demand in the markets in general.
Looking at the European markets, we see that players have started the week a bit late in southern Europe. The uptrend of rebar prices triggered by rising raw material costs has continued in these markets. However, transaction price levels have still been at lower levels compared to the asked-for prices. While rebar sales activity on truck basis continues in the local markets in southern Europe, rebar export offers have showed variation depending on the country in question, standing in a range of €340-360/mt; however, buyers have not accepted these figures in most cases.
In Germany, no change has been observed in the price uptrend in this country. However, in this country also, the increased price levels only exist on paper. Also in Germany, transaction prices are at lower levels compared to list prices due to low demand and the low transaction volume. On the other hand, ex-Polish rebar offers to Germany are at €330-340/mt DDP for limited tonnages.
In the UK, on the other hand, producers have this week tested the market situation with increased list prices, though demand is still slack in this market. Due to the very competitive import rebar offers to the UK, transaction prices in the domestic market are at low levels due to the competition in question.
With the approach of the Christmas holiday showing its influence in the European markets with each day, producers are now planning maintenance works for the holiday period.