Turkish longs exporters have decided to take it easy this week, taking into account the recently introduced steel export duty in Russia and the approaching religious holidays in Turkey. In addition, most Turkish mills are sold out for up to two months and they are not in a rush to stimulate sales immediately.
Ex-Turkey rebar offers are currently at $730-750/mt FOB, while a few mills have stopped quoting. According to sources, two cargoes of 10,000 mt of rebar each were sold to Australia at early June and it might be an export destination for fresh rebar sales. Most offers are for August shipments.
In the local Turkish market, the official price range for rebar is at $710-720/mt ex-works, while slightly higher levels are available only from a few producers. Sources report that the workable rebar prices are at around $700/mt ex-works and slightly below. The general sentiment in the market is negative ahead of the holiday period in the local market.
In the wire rod export segment, a few Turkish producers are mainly testing for early September shipments at around $850-860/mt FOB, versus $840/mt FOB last week. As wire rod demand is relatively better than demand for rebar for now, no fresh wire rod sale has been heard so far.