Turkish steel mills have reduced their merchant bar export prices by $2.5/mt to $515-530/mt FOB over the past two weeks as buyers have continued to exert downward pressure on prices. SteelOrbis has been informed that Turkish merchant bar producers are offering lower prices for large volumes. Meanwhile, overseas buyers’ firm bids for Turkish merchant bar are reported to be in the range of $495-510/mt FOB.
Additionally, price inquiries for Turkish merchant bar are mostly received from the Middle East (Israel and Lebanon) and North Africa (Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt). Although import prices from the CIS region for billet, which is an important cost item for Turkish merchant bar mills, have fallen to $425-430/mt CFR Turkey, this decrease is not expected to be very helpful for Turkish mills since buyers’ firm bids are at $495-510/mt FOB.
With the current weakness of international demand, Turkish merchant bar export sales are not expected to gain momentum in the short term.
Turkish merchant bar export prices are currently at the following levels:
|
Product |
Price ($/mt) |
Price change |
|
|
25.04.2019 |
|||
|
Angle |
515-530 |
↓ |
2.5 |
|
IPN-UPN |
525-540 |
↓ |
2.5 |
|
Flat bar |
545-560 |
↓ |
2.5 |
|
IPE |
525-540 |
↓ |
2.5 |
All prices are on FOB basis and for May shipment.