In the Turkish domestic market, where rising raw material costs have been reflected in local rebar prices in the last couple of weeks, local traders have been trying to avoid concluding purchases as end-user demand has been quite silent coming up to the religious holiday.
Turkish producers, who are mostly active in Africa and the Middle East as regards exports, have in the past week observed a major silence in the Middle East due to the holidays. Generally, Turkish producers are offering in the range of $475-480/mt FOB. Iraq, as an active buyer in the south, finds these offer levels high for booking, especially in view of the price levels currently existing in their own domestic market.
Since last week Turkish producers have started making new offers to the UAE at $490-495/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis. As the UAE producers have increased their local prices by $10/mt, the new levels offered by the Turkish producers have become more acceptable and more firm buyers can be seen now compared to previous weeks.
However, buyers in this market are still anxious to avoid booking large quantities as confidence in the current price levels has not been fully established, owing to the great silence of demand in the domestic market.
Rebar price levels have maintained their strength in Europe in the past week. The average price level given from southern Europe for export has remained at €340/mt FOB. A slight activation of demand was seen in Algeria, while no major change was seen elsewhere.
The local market in southern Europe continues to be firm on the price side, while demand is still sluggish. This obviously points to raw material costs as the main factor influencing prices. Price movements in Turkey have also had an impact on prices in Europe. Producers in countries to which Turkey exports, and also European producers who compete with Turkey in these export markets, continue to monitor Turkish price levels when setting their own prices.
Generally speaking, the current situation may be summed up by saying that the recent upward movement of rebar prices is mainly driven by raw material costs. Meanwhile, market players are still wondering when demand will start to shake off its weakness and start providing greater support for prices.