It seems like a hurricane has been blowing this week in the local Turkish rebar market, with prices increasing at such rapid rates. The price levels earlier this week were at $1,040-1,100/mt ex-works, excluding VAT. However, towards the end of the week, some mills have been offering at levels of up to $1,175/mt ex-works, excluding VAT. The market players have been having difficulty in following the swift increases and are still expressing surprise at what they have witnessed.
On the Turkish export market side, early this week Turkish mills were offering rebars for export to destinations other than the US and Persian Gulf markets at $1,050-1,080/mt FOB on actual weight basis for July shipments. They had first increased their offers to $1,080-1,130/mt FOB, before going on to raise them further to $1,100-1,150/mt FOB. International market players are finding it hard to keep up with the increase rate.
The price range of import rebar in the UAE market has been at AED 4,250-4,300/mt ($1.158-1.171/mt) delivered to site on a theoretical weight basis for 90-120 day deferred payment. It is expected that the local prices will increase due to the overall upward price trend in the markets. On the import side in this market, offers from Turkey were at $1,100-1,125/mt CFR early this week. It was also heard that some deals had been concluded at these levels. Later, offer prices rose further to $1,150/mt CFR. It is expected that the price level in question will increase yet again.
The rebar price level of EZDK in the local Egyptian market has been at EGP 5,200/mt ($969/mt) ex-works, including five percent VAT. Meanwhile, the other producers' prices have been at EGP 6,100/mt ($1.136/mt). No new price levels have been announced due to the May 1 holiday. It is expected that the price levels in Egypt will increase in the early days of the coming week due to the increasing scrap, rebar and billet prices in the international markets.
One producer in the Saudi Arabia market has increased its price levels for 8-12 mm rebar to SAR 4,195-4.575/mt ($1.119-1.220/mt), including five percent VAT, as of May 1. It is expected that the other producers in the country will also increase their prices accordingly within a short period of time.
The rebar markets in Turkey and Middle East, which had entered the month of April at a fairly relaxed pace, have been experiencing incredible increases over the last two weeks. It is expected that these markets will be set on fire when the CIS producers announce their May prices. In addition, there may appear new alternative buyer markets due to the implementation of new export duties by the Indian government. On the other hand, it is observed that the prices in China are increasing at a slower rate compared to the prices in the Middle East. For this reason, if the Middle East prices continue to rise at their current speed, China may once again be in a position to enter this market.