After the downward movement in both Turkish domestic and export long steel prices, ex-CIS long steel product prices have also indicated decreases. The downward movement in the Turkish domestic market, resulting from low demand (which has contributed to low capacity utilization rates) and sales pressure on the market, may come to an end by this week. On the other hand, last week Turkish rebar offers to the export markets declined to $650/mt FOB, on actual weight basis, while this week offers have reached $660-670/mt FOB on actual weight basis. A few scarce rebar deals have been concluded at $5/mt below this range.
There are various expectations regarding the short-term prospects for the Turkish long steel market. In the uncertain market conditions, some market players are more optimistic and believe that the market will become more active in May, while others think that prices will remain unchanged and that demand will continue to be sluggish. Meanwhile, Turkish mills have started to conclude scrap purchases at higher levels than they were expecting and this may cause their profit margins to contract. Accordingly, the mills are not anticipated to cut their offers further amid low demand (and resulting low capacity utilization) and high costs. The steps taken by Turkish mills in the days ahead will play a major role in determining the situation in the market in the coming period.