It is observed that domestic rebar prices in Turkey have remained stable since the beginning of the current week. On the other hand, trading activity in the local Turkish rebar market is still slow; while buyers are still concluding domestic rebar purchases only in line with their immediate needs, having been cautious for a long time due to the fluctuating trend of Turkish lira-US dollar exchange rate.
The European Commission (EC) has announced its decision to impose provisional safeguard measures on 23 steel product categories, in the form of a 25 percent out-of-quota tariff. The provisional measures will be applied for 200 calendar days beginning today, July 19. Within the scope of these measures, EU's import quotas will be 714,964 metric tons for rebar and 1,058,110 metric tons for wire rod. Although EU is not Turkish mills’ main rebar export market, it is observed that Turkish producers’ rebar exports to the EU amounted to 353,826 metric tons in the first five months of 2018.
On the other hand, EU is one of Turkey’s main wire rod export markets and demand for Turkish wire rod in the region has been at low levels for some time now due to the uncertainties resulting from the safeguard investigation. However, market sources believe that Turkish wire rod purchases in the EU may increase in the coming period. Looking at the 2017 export figures, Turkish producers’ wire rod exports to the EU amounted to 391,698 metric tons, while they totaled 409,890 metric tons in the first five months of 2018.
Since EU’s protective measures are very new and most European countries have entered the traditional summer holiday period, no immediate effect of the quotas on EU’s import long steel demand is seen. However, if EU-based buyers restart their purchases, the accelerated export sales are expected to provide support for Turkey’s domestic long steel market.
As of today, July 19, traders’ rebar offers in the Turkish domestic market are as follows:
|
Region |
Dimension |
Price (TRY/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Price changes (TRY/mt) |
Price changes ($/mt) |
||
|
16.07.2018 |
16.07.2018 |
||||||
|
Marmara |
8 mm |
2,669 |
553 |
|
0 |
↑ |
1 |
|
Marmara |
12 mm |
2,653 |
549 |
|
0 |
↑ |
1 |
|
Iskenderun |
8 mm |
2,653 |
549 |
|
0 |
↑ |
1 |
|
Iskenderun |
10 mm |
2,631 |
545 |
|
0 |
↑ |
1 |
|
Iskenderun |
12 mm |
2,619 |
542 |
|
0 |
↑ |
1 |
|
Izmir |
8 mm |
2,644 |
547 |
|
0 |
↑ |
1 |
|
Izmir |
10 mm |
2,636 |
546 |
|
0 |
↑ |
1 |
|
Izmir |
12 mm |
2,627 |
544 |
|
0 |
↑ |
1 |
|
Karabuk |
8 mm |
2,644 |
547 |
|
0 |
↑ |
1 |
|
Karabuk |
12 mm |
2,627 |
544 |
|
0 |
↑ |
1 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and on actual weight basis and exclude VAT.
$1 = TRY 4.83