Turkish longs producers are going through difficult times due to aggressive pricing policy from Asia and the GCC countries, which very much limits the competitiveness of the Turkish mills. In addition, the unclear financial situation in the country and ongoing depreciation of Turkish lira against the US dollar is another challenge. The currency fluctuations lead Turkish mills to quote in the local currency and even set their own exchange rates. On May 25, Turkish Central Bank will announce its interest rate and in addition a lot of market players postpone their activities until the political situation in the country becomes clearer, following the second round of elections to be held on May 28.
Currently, ex-Turkey rebar offers are standing at $630-640/mt FOB for June shipments, falling by $10/mt on the higher end over the past week. "Even these levels are not competitive, when ex-Egypt rebar price at around $565/mt FOB these days," one source mentioned. To be fair, Egyptian prices depend on the destinations and the tonnage since some of the sales have been closed recently at $570-585/mt FOB and some of the mills started to voice new offers for July shipments at $590/mt FOB and above. Still, North African prices are more attractive currently, which limits Turkey’s sales in the Mediterranean region. In the meantime, in Asia, the Hong Kong and Singapore, markets are dominated by the regional origins and the GCC material.
Locally, a few mills in the Marmara region are offering rebar price at TRY 15,300-15,400/mt ($652-656/mt) ex-works, while two Iskenderun-based mills are at TRY 15,050-15,500/mt ($641-660/mt) ex-works today according to $1=19,90.
In the wire rod segment, a few mills are still offering $650/mt FOB for shipments in June, stable over the past week. In the Turkish domestic wire rod market, the official price varies within $655-680/mt versus $665-695/mt ex-works a week ago.