Turkish longs producers have managed to stabilize their export prices this week, mainly based on some moderate demand in the domestic market, incoming orders from the nearby export destinations and relatively firm scrap prices. In addition, the overall rebar capacity utilization rate across Turkey is still at around 50 percent, which means the pressure from the supply side is under control somewhat. In addition, while benefitting from the Red Sea situation in terms of competition with Asian sellers, Turkish mills are also suffering from the situation when organizing and performing their own shipments in the region. As a result, they are currently mainly focusing on dealing with the EU and particularly with the Balkan region.
Currently, ex-Turkey rebar offers are standing at $610-620/mt FOB for late February-March shipments, stable over the past week. The upper end of the range seems a bit difficult to achieve for now, while a few Marmara-based mills are testing even slightly higher levels, SteelOrbis has heard. No fresh rebar sale has been reported for now, but some sales are expected in the near term.
In the Turkish domestic rebar market, the official price range in the Marmara and Izmir regions varies at $625-640/mt ex-works, down by $5/mt on the upper end over the past week. A few mills are giving additional discounts for serious buyers, while taking advantage of the depreciation of the Turkish lira against the US dollar.
In the wire rod segment, ex-Turkey offers have stabilized over the week at $630-635/mt FOB for late February-March shipments. According to sources, a 5,000 mt wire rod lot has been traded this week to Romania at $625/mt FOB for end-of-February shipment. In the local Turkish wire rod market, the general price levels still vary within $635-665/mt ex-works depending on the supplier, unchanged over the past week. In addition, Kardemir's price for 6-27 mm wire rod of SAE 1008-1010 grade is still at $645/mt ex-works since Wednesday, January 10. In the import segment, buying has nearly stopped since the introduction of the $175/mt safeguard measure, to which even origins like Egypt and Malaysia are subject. However, the duty may be avoided if products are imported under Turkey’s inward processing regime.
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