Turkish merchant bar exports remain sluggish

A few Turkish merchant bar re-rollers are applying aggressive pricing policies to generate sales, leading to a $20/mt decline over the past week on the lower end of the general price range, with offers standing at $660-700/mt FOB for June-July shipment. Some inquiries have been received from North Africa and the Balkan region. However, under the current market conditions, ex-Turkey merchant bar offers do not appear to be competitive.

The SteelOrbis Turkish billet CFR-based daily reference export price currently stands at $535-545/mt, versus $540-560/mt last week. " A few merchant bar re-rollers are able to quote relatively aggressive prices due to their advantage from their billet purchases" one source mentioned. A few merchant bar re-rollers are seeking to keep their offers stable in order to be on the safe side due to the unclear financial situation in the country, which prevents the conversion of price inquiries into orders.

Turkish merchant bar export prices are currently at the following levels:

All prices are on FOB basis for June-July shipments.