With their order books full for the month of May, Turkish mills intend to fill their order books for June with the potential demand coming from the Middle East. However, although local mills in Egypt announced price hikes last week, there have not been many new orders coming from this region towards the end of the week.
Turkish mills' wire rod export offers have this week continued to be in the range of $490-500/mt FOB. In particular, although Turkish mills intend to give higher offers to the Egyptian market, it may be said that for now it is still a little early for this price increase. As for the Middle Eastern market, it is heard that some traders in Iraq have made inquiries to Turkey in order to sell materials to the local market in Iraq.
Similar to the Egyptian market, last week local mills in Saudi Arabia also issued new price lists for May. As predicted in our previous analyses, in the Saudi Arabian domestic market prices have shown no change in line with the general expectation. Meanwhile, the possibility that the export restriction applied on iron and steel products may be withdrawn is currently one of the most popular topics of discussion in the Saudi Arabian market. Rumors are circulating that such a decision could be made through the end of the second quarter.
This week, producers in the Dubai market are offering mesh quality wire rod in the range of $490-530/mt ex-works, excluding VAT. In addition, it is heard that some Turkish mills are giving wire rod export offers to this country close to the local market levels in Dubai for June shipments. On the other hand, a pessimistic atmosphere has been continuing on the demand side in the Dubai wire rod market.
In ex-CIS offers given to Dubai, mesh quality wire rod prices are in the range of $550-570/mt CFR Dubai for June shipments. However, ex-CIS wire rod offers have not been attracting interest in Dubai, as orders may be delivered in late June and offer levels are high compared to those in the local market.
This week, producers in the Romanian market are offering mesh quality wire rod in the range of €370-380/mt ex-works, excluding VAT. Similar to the Turkish mills, the Romanian mills' efforts to raise their prices have continued to affect the local market. However, the current weak state of demand does not favor these efforts.
With Turkish wire rod market players being relatively inactive during the current week and just focusing their attention on delivering current orders, in the coming days we await with interest to see the new strategies they will adopt.