The domestic wire rod market of Turkey has seen price increases both in domestic and export offers recently. This week, the mesh-making grade wire rod price offer levels for end May-early June shipment were at $710-715/mt FOB. SteelOrbis has learned that offers above this level also exist.
In the current period, given the recent increasing trend of Turkish wire rod export offers, US buyers have started to prefer buying from their domestic market. However, demand continues to come from Latin America, even though it is weak due to the after-effects of the floods experienced in Brazil and Colombia.
When we look at the other export markets of Turkey, we see the Vietnamese domestic market indicating continuing stability for some time. Buyers in India are hesitating to book new material, and there are offers of boron-added mesh-making grade wire rods for June shipment from China to India at aggressive levels such as $740-745/mt CFR. These offers might become an obstacle to Turkey's wire rod exports to the Indian market. In the Far East, Singapore and Taiwan are the markets that stand out from the rest of the Far Eastern markets in terms of better demand.
As for the European market, the domestic market of Italy has slowed down under the impact of the Easter holiday period with prices at €525-535/mt ($778-792/mt) ex-works for drawing quality wire rod. New price levels in the Italian market are expected to be shaped next week.
The euro/US dollar exchange rate at 1.46 allows Turkish wire rod producers some advantage in the Algerian and Tunisian markets in North Africa, when competing with export offers from Europe. Furthermore, Spanish wire rod producers' offers for mesh making wire rod at €520-525/mt FOB ($770-778/mt) FOB have caused Turkish buyers to delay their import bookings of wire rod. The UK, an important export market for southern European wire rod producers has been out of the market due to the royal wedding. Buyers in the UK are expected to return to the market next week.
In the Middle East, the Metal & Steel 2011 Fair held in Egypt saw a good number of participants from Turkey. After the fair, trading activity with Egypt is expected to revive to some extent.