Turkey has witnessed some decent demand for its wire rod this week, partly as the EU customers are finally back in the market, while the remaining EU quota for Turkish wire rod is considered to be large enough for October delivery bookings. In the same period, additional tonnages have been sold to some African clients.
Wire rod export prices from Turkey have been standing at $465-470/mt FOB since earlier this week, while some mills also report $460/mt FOB for small inquiries. As of September 5, the remaining EU quota for wire rod imports from Turkey amounted to 117,867 mt, leaving some considerable space for imports. However, buyers are not ready to deal for lots with long lead time.
In these circumstances, Turkish mills have managed to sell some sizeable wire rod volumes to the EU for October deliveries, with most of the deals closed at $465-470/mt FOB. In particular, around 30,000 mt of drawing quality product in total were sold to Belgium via a trader. Romania has also been in the market with 5,000-6,000 mt of orders for mesh grade. In addition, some interest has been seen in Africa within around the same price range: in two separate deals, 4,000-5,000 mt of mesh and drawing grade wire rod was sold to Libya and the Ivory Coast, while 14,000-15,000 mt of mesh and drawing quality wire rod was sold to Israel.
EU mills have started to gradually announce their local prices for wire rod. In particular, current Spanish offers are at €450-460/mt ($500-511/mt) CPT for the Iberian Peninsula. In Italy, local wire rod prices are set at €440-445/mt ($488-494/mt) CPT. In addition, Greek producers are offering wire rod at €460-465/mt ($511-516/mt) CPT. Despite some pressure from buyers on local pricing, there is some optimism regarding domestic sales in the fourth quarter as the import quota is expected to be exhausted, at least for Turkish wire rod.
€1 = $1.11