While facing continuously weak demand for rebar, Turkish mills have maintained a high level of activity in their square billet exports. Buyers from North Africa have become the key partners, partly owing to geographical proximity.
Turkey exported 901,588 mt of square billet in the first half this year, up from 215,438 mt exported in the same period of 2018, the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TCUD) reports. Increased business activity in the segment was attributed to mills’ target to support their positions amid the weaker longs trade. In particular, domestic longs consumption in Turkey declined by 43.1 percent year on year to 5.2 million mt in the given period, according to TCUD data.
North Africa, where Turkey has a freight advantage over the CIS, has become the key billet export market for Turkish mills and took close to 60 percent of the total exported billet volume in the first half of the year. In particular, according to TUIK, Morocco purchased 176,680 mt, while Algeria and Egypt booked 124,195 mt and 146,982 mt, respectively.
Saudi mills also became more active in billet imports following the cautious revival of their local rebar market. Turkey sold 152,000 mt to this destination. African countries, Ethiopia and Nigeria specifically, consumed close to 90,000 mt of ex-Turkey billets, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) shows. In Asia, Turkey’s positions were weaker amid tight competition with regional and CIS-based sellers. As a result, only 51,600 mt were shipped from Turkey to Taiwan and around 15,000 mt to Malaysia in the first half, SteelOrbis has learned.
Billet exports from Turkey may reach 2 million mt this year, according to some market players’ forecasts. However, the trade in the second half of the year might be weaker than expected. “The safeguard situation in Egypt is still unclear and in Algeria the political situation affects local consumption and longs utilization rates too much,” a billet exporter said.