Turkish rebar export prices have decreased by $10/mt since last week to $400-405/mt FOB in most offers for October shipments, with slack demand and falling scrap prices being the key reasons for the decrease. Despite the lower rebar export offers, sales have remained slow. In particular, European buyers have not found the new price levels attractive as the remaining EU rebar quota is only 20,253 mt. Earlier this week, Turkey sold around 3,000-4,000 mt of rebar to Africa and 6,000-7,000 mt to Yemen at $405-410/mt FOB. A cargo of up to 5,000 mt was also sold to Ethiopia at slightly above $410/mt FOB.
Some negotiations were reported with US buyers for a price at around $595/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis, duty paid; however, no agreements have been concluded. Market players are waiting for some results of negotiations regarding the currently valid 25 percent safeguard duty and its possible transformation into a quota. “It would definitely give some positive push to the market, but unfortunately the issue is very much unclear,” a producer told SteelOrbis.
Turkish wire rod export prices have decreased by $15-20/mt since early last week to $435-440/mt FOB, being currently available for end-October and November shipments. The remaining quota in the EU is still sizeable enough, though no sales have been reported, partly due to insufficient local consumption in Europe. However, local pricing in southern Europe remains high at €435-440/mt ($477-482/mt) DDP, and so the newly reduced offers from Turkey might attract some demand.