The increased activity in the Turkish domestic merchant bar market early last week was interrupted due to the cold weather conditions and this week the market seems stagnant again.
Since merchant bar demand has not yet been released in Turkey, there has not been any significant price change. This week, angle prices in the Turkish domestic merchant bar market stand at TRY 1,104-1,150/mt ($697-726/mt) + VAT ex-works. Local buyers have continued to adopt a wait-and-see stance and have been purchasing only small tonnages for their spot material needs.
As regards Turkey's merchant bar exports, Turkish mills' angle export offers this week are still standing at $710-720/mt FOB for April shipments, remaining unchanged as compared to last week. On the other hand, the political upheaval in North Africa is still affecting Turkey's merchant bar exports.
According to the information provided by the Istanbul Mineral and Metals Exporters' Association (IMMIB), Turkey's top ten merchant bar export markets in February this year were as follows:
Country | Volume (mt) | |
February 2010 | February 2011 | |
USA | 930 | 15,956 |
Saudi Arabia | 14,502 | 12,911 |
729 | 8,677 | |
Iraq | 14,596 | 8,959 |
2,451 | 7,795 | |
- | 7,893 | |
Morocco | 10,788 | 4,619 |
Israel | 3,826 | 4,132 |
Egypt | 1,138 | 3,537 |
UK | 488 | 3,622 |
As compared to the merchant bar export volumes in February 2010, merchant bar export sales to the US, Brazil and Algeria in February this year were significant. On the other hand, one of Turkey's recent eye-catching export markets, Nigeria became the sixth largest merchant bar export market for Turkey. In the meantime, merchant bar exports to Senegal ranked 12th, with Ghana in 14th, with exports to both these countries increasing in February as compared to the same month last year.
It is anticipated that domestic merchant bar prices in Turkey will be readjusted this week, in line with the trends in scrap and steel billet prices. However, since construction projects have not accelerated yet, transaction activity is still on the low side. Market players indicate that any price hike would not gain acceptance unless demand first shows an improvement.