While import scrap prices in Turkey have been climbing and offers for large billet lots from Asia in particular have not been of much interest to buyers in Turkey, the limited demand for rebar and wire rod both domestically and abroad continues to prevent Turkish mills from raising their longs prices. As a result, the longs export offers of Turkish mills are now more or less in line with the new indications for January production from their rivals from North Africa, which is a rather rare occurrence.
Currently, Turkish rebar export offers are at $570-575/mt FOB, with offers $5/mt lower and higher also possible depending on the mills’ order books, while wire rod is available at $575-580/mt FOB and slightly above in some cases. After having sold some cargoes to nearby EU destinations such as Bulgaria and Romania, Turkish mills have been focusing on inquiries from Yemen, where decent lots have been sold at up to $580/mt FOB, SteelOrbis has heard.
In Egypt, the mills have started offering for January production and February shipments and the official offers for rebar and wire rod are at $565-570/mt FOB and $570-580/mt FOB, respectively, mills report. In the last round of sales, the general workable prices for longs were in the range of $555-570/mt FOB for both products. In the import segment, there are still some aggressive rebar offers from Russia at $540-550/mt CFR for new cargoes and for wire rod at $535-540/mt CFR, but for the material coming from ports.
Algeria has also been in the market to sell January production mainly with one of the mills offering at $570/mt FOB for both rebar and wire rod, but buyers consider some discounts possible. Another supplier, according to buyers, is offering January production rebar at $555/mt FOB.
Israel remains the highest market in terms of import prices since there has been a limited number of suppliers to the country for a while now. Russia is offering rebar at $610-615/mt CFR, while China is offering at $620/mt CFR, sources reported. In terms of FOB levels, the export offers of Russian mills are uneven and vary depending on the sales destinations. Overall, rebar and wire rod prices are now evaluated at $500-515/mt FOB for January shipments.