Turkey’s longs exporters have been making attempts to increase their prices this week, following some sales to various destinations. Still, international demand has remained insufficient and the Turkish mills are still squeezed between higher costs and low trade volumes. Most of them, however, are balancing the situation with production cuts. In November, the average capacity utilization rate was mainly at around 50-65 percent and some mills are reported to have cut their utilization to 40 percent. The current situation is expected to continue in December and, moreover, several mills are planning maintenance works for around 15-20 days.
Ex-Turkey rebar offers for December shipments are standing at $635-640/mt FOB today, versus $625-630/mt FOB a week ago. A few mills have stopped quoting amid the unclear financial situation in the country and in order to be on the safe side if import scrap prices increase sharply in the short term. Due to the GCC-based mills’ dominance in the Far Eastern markets, Turkish mills are mainly focusing on nearby countries and Latin America. According to sources, two separate 8,000-10,000 mt rebar sales are reported to have been closed to Yemen at $615/mt FOB on theoretical weight basis, which is around $637/mt FOB on actual weight. In addition, around 20,000-25,000 mt of rebar in total have been sold to Romania at around $620/mt FOB and another 8,000 mt lot was sold to Chile at around $615/mt FOB.
In the local Turkish rebar market, most mills in the Marmara and Izmir regions are offering rebar at $640-645/mt ex-works today. Kardemir succeeded in selling around 20,000 mt of rebar at $630/mt ex-works earlier this week, while up to 20,000-25,000 mt of rebar were reportedly sold at $630/mt ex-works Izmir yesterday.
In the wire rod segment, a few mills have started testing $660/mt FOB, versus $640/mt FOB a week ago. However, it seems a bit difficult to achieve for now.