The market situation for Turkish longs producers remains challenging and sales have been even under more pressure lately, particularly in the Mediterranean region, while the domestic market has also been non-supportive. Higher production costs have been weighing on mills’ pricing, while the higher freight charges and limited vessel availability make it tough for exporters to keep up sales to North Africa and the nearby Middle East. In addition, North Africa itself is still quite a source of competition since their prices are more or less in line with Turkish prices. Still, some demand has been coming from European countries, where Turkey still has an unfinished quota, particularly for wire rod.
Currently, ex-Turkey rebar offers are standing at $550/mt FOB for November shipments, falling by $10/mt on the upper end over the past week. A few mills are applying aggressive pricing policies and are even testing $540/mt FOB, SteelOrbis has learned. According to sources, two lots of rebar of 10,000 mt each have been sold to Jamaica at around $540-550/mt FOB, while some sources say the $540/mt level is not workable for some mills with their current production costs. Moreover, around 13,000 mt of rebar were traded to Romania at $545/mt FOB earlier this week. In addition, small tonnage rebar were traded to Bulgaria at $560-565/mt FOB to Bulgaria last week, however this price level is too high under the current market conditions.
In the local rebar market, most mills in the Izmir and Marmara regions are offering their official prices at $545-570/mt ex-works, including Icdas A.S, while sources report the workable rebar price is at around $540-560/mt ex-works for serious buyers. A small tonnage of rebar was traded at $550/mt ex-works in the Marmara region yesterday. One of the producers in the same region is expected to stop its rebar production by this weekend and to start offering material from stock. Over the past week, the domestic workable rebar prices have fallen by at least $10-15/mt.
In the wire rod segment, Turkish official wire rod export offers are now at $560-570/mt FOB, for November shipments, versus $570-580/mt FOB a week ago. In the local Turkish market, the workable price is at $565-570/mt ex-works, including Kardemir’s sales, while some mills voice their official offers at up to $580-600/mt ex-works, which is not considered workable. In the import segment, the latest wire rod offers from Russia stood at $535-540/mt CFR for prompt deliveries. Egypt has been in the market mainly at $575-580/mt CFR for November shipments, which is considered too high for the current market conditions even though this origin is a duty-free one.