Early this week, the price range in Turkish mills'
rebar export offers had widened to $670-690/mt, while buyers were predicting that Turkish producers would fail to find the expected demand in the export markets as they insisted on maintaining their prices at high levels.
Following the softening observed yesterday, April 17, in ex-CIS steel billet offers, Turkish steel producer Icdas has cut its domestic
rebar prices by TRY 55/mt today, surprising many in the market. Although a softening in
rebar prices had already been expected in the market, where demand has remained quite low, expectations were for a gradual decline. Turkish mills are under increasing pressure to conclude sales, arising from the risk of slower demand in their export markets approaching the summer months - due to Ramadan in the
Middle East (begins in mid-July) and the August summer holidays in Europe. Accordingly, the Turkish producers are trying to fill their order books for July as soon as possible. Due to this pressure, Turkish mills'
rebar export offers have also been expected to soften; however, the decline seems to have happened faster than expected, with Turkish producers'
rebar export offers decreasing to $660-670/mt FOB. No transaction has been heard at this price range so far. In the meantime, SteelOrbis has learned that Turkish
rebar export offers to Egypt are currently standing at $675/mt CIF.