Business conditions have remained challenging for Turkish longs producers, given the negative price developments in the import billet and scrap segments, coupled with buyers’ pressure on export prices. The domestic market activity has not been bright either, and together these factors have forced the mills to provide discounts in order to sell some lots.
As regards exports, Turkish mills are now standing at $640-650/mt FOB, versus $670-700/mt FOB seen early this week. Buyers have been pushing for lower levels, witnessing the unfavourable situation in the scrap segment and also realizing that the aggressive ex-Russia billet offers have been providing Turkish mills with larger margins, and so there has been room for rebar price decreases. It is worth mentioning that mostly merchant bar producers have been the buyers for import billet in Turkey for a while now, although certain tonnages are also being booked on the rebar producers’ side. According to sources, there have been small lots sold to Mediterranean markets at $630/mt FOB and $640/mt FOB for 3,000 mt lots. Most market players assess the workable levels as being closer to domestic market prices.
In the Turkish domestic market, after rebar lots were traded at $620-635/mt ex-works earlier this week, Icdas today, July 27, announced a $20/mt drop to $640/mt ex-works. The total amount of the discount is $40/mt since early this week. According to sources, a few mills have started testing $600/mt ex-works. Most local buyers are monitoring the import scrap price trend in order to make a restocking decision in the rebar segment.
In the wire rod export segment, a few mills are offering wire rod at $680-700/mt FOB, versus $720-740/mt FOB, for September shipments. The higher end seems a bit difficult to achieve for now.