Long steel producers in Turkey have continued following upward price trends in their domestic and export markets, even though support from demand has remained insufficient. The uptrend of rebar and wire rod prices is still mainly attributed to expectations and concerns connected with the war in the Middle East and in particular domestic buyers in Turkey are not in a rush to restock, having doubts about the previously expected end-user demand revival. As regards exports, trade is as usual quite low. Some mills are concentrating on non-EU destinations where the competition with North Africa is quite intense. In the meantime, Turkish mills are feeling increasing pressure from the cost side as billet prices have increased and no discounts are expected in the import scrap segment, while rising hydrocarbon prices have led to higher freight rates and overall increased caution in the market.
Locally, most rebar prices in the Marmara region are at $575-580/mt ex-works and only some mills are still offering at $570/mt ex-works, SteelOrbis has learned, while in the Izmir region rebar is offered at close to $552-563/mt (TRY 29,200-29,800/mt) ex-works. In the Iskenderun area, most prices have been set at $557/mt (TRY 29,500/mt) ex-works, particularly following the increased tension in the region after Iran’s missile attacks. One Iskenderun mill is even testing TRY 30,000/mt ($568/mt) ex-works today.
As a result, rebar offer prices on US dollar basis across Turkey have increased by around $5-10/mt over the past week, while workable prices as of today, March 11, are assessed at $550-570/mt ex-works depending on the region. The market sources report that some restocking is being done by traders who had been low in their stocks for a while now. “There is some buying in limited volumes. Most probably they don’t want to be empty-handed once there is some demand improvement from construction. But, overall, we can’t say that mills have good sales. People are generally waiting,” a local source told SteelOrbis. Turkey’s rebar export offers are at $565-580/mt FOB for April shipments, up by 10-15/mt over the past week.
In the wire rod segment, official domestic prices in Turkey have settled at $565-580/mt ex-works depending on the region, up by $5/mt over the past week. Turkish mills' export offers are also testing $570-590/mt FOB for wire rod, up by $10/mt for cargoes for April shipments. The workable wire rod export prices are evaluated at $565-580/mt FOB, also up by $10/mt over the same period.
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