Turkey’s longs export prices remain firm, with mills citing strong scrap prices and overall higher costs as factors, in addition to limited billet availability. Moreover, interest from some buyers has been seen lately even at increased prices, which resulted in mills’ attempts to raise prices a little more. The support has come mainly from the Balkan region and Latin America, while Israel and Yemen have remained quiet for now.
In the domestic market, Turkish suppliers are increasing prices step by step, while most buyers are taking their time regarding new purchases in order to monitor the import scrap price trend. The adverse weather conditions in Anatolia are another challenge to restocking material, while the recent approval of the urban transformation law is considered to be a positive sign.
Currently, ex-Turkey rebar offers are standing at $575-585/mt FOB for late November-December shipments, up $5/mt on the higher end over the past week. According to sources, over 15,000 mt of rebar were sold to Peru at around $580/mt FOB earlier this week, while there is a view that it might have been a mixed cargo with merchant bars for the sake of the freight advantage. In addition, another medium-sized deal has been reported to Europe again at $580/mt FOB, supposedly to Romania. Overall, according to mills, buyers in the Balkan region, specifically Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, are sending enquiries to Turkey due to the limited supply in the region. As a result, demand is somewhat better at present, though, due to the upcoming winter and holiday season for Christmas and the New Year in Europe, demand may be sluggish in December.
In the Turkish domestic rebar market, most mills in the Izmir and Marmara regions are offering at $580-595/mt ex-works, rising by $10/mt over the past week. An Iskenderun region-based mill issued its rebar price at around $595/mt ex-works yesterday, though above $585/mt ex-works seems somewhat difficult to achieve under the current market conditions. Moreover, Kardemir sold around 31,500 mt of rebar at $587/mt ex-works yesterday.
In the wire rod export segment, most Turkish mills are offering at $590-600/mt FOB for late November-December shipment, versus $585-590/mt FOB a week earlier. In the Turkish domestic wire rod market, prices vary at $585-615/mt ex-works, versus $575-605/mt ex-works a week ago. It is worth mentioning Turkish mills are attempting to increase their local prices following the safeguard measure investigation launched against wire rod imports earlier this month.