Traders tell SteelOrbis that Turkish mills are offering lower prices for import rebar compared to last week, but with the US market largely quiet ahead of the Labor Day holiday, few—if any—customers are taking advantage of the trend. Another factor that has left future orders largely ignored is position availability. While the stream of imports into the US in August is slowing to a trickle, import permits from Turkey jumped by 9,571 mt in the week between Aug. 23 and Aug. 30—less than the weekly increase of 15,050 mt reported last week.
With position tags still proving to be highly competitive with future orders, the latter offers have largely remained stable over the course of the month. However, traders say that the spot range has dipped by about $0.50 cwt. ($10/nt or $11/mt) in the last week to $19.50-$20.50 cwt. ($390-$410/nt or $430-$452/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, and if customers are motivated to order they could most likely book for below the low end of the range.