Turkish rebar producers are rushing to generate sales ahead of the Christmas and New Year holiday season, while also competing with North African suppliers’ aggressive prices. The developments in Syria and the positive sentiments resulting from China's Central Economic Work Conference are considered to be good signs for the Turkish steel industry. As a result, a few Turkish mills are attempting to increase their local prices and their sales have been rather active since local buyers have needed to restock, while export offers have been kept stable.
Currently, ex-Turkey rebar prices vary at $565-575/mt FOB, stable for January shipment, while firm bids from the Balkan region have been heard at $555-560/mt FOB. A fresh rebar sale of around 3,000 mt has been rumored at $555-560/mt FOB to Bulgaria, though it has not been confirmed by the time of publication. The sale of another rebar lot of 5,000 mt to Romania has also been rumored at $560-565/mt FOB this week. Under the current conditions, a few market players believe that rebar export prices have already reached the bottom and may rebound in the near term. General demand is expected to slow down in the second half of December, while the next EU quota period will begin on January 1.
In the Turkish domestic rebar market, Kardemir succeeded in selling around 45,000 mt of rebar at $570/mt ex-works today, December 11. An Iskenderun-region based mill has issued its rebar price at TRY 24,500/mt ($585/mt) ex-works at today’s exchange rate of $1 = TRY 34.88. In addition, a Marmara-region based mill is offering rebar at $580/mt ex-works today. As a result, the workable rebar prices have settled at $570-575/mt ex-works in the Marmara and Izmir regions, including Icdas A.S.’s price, up by $5/mt over the past week. According to sources, sales of a total of 60,000-65,000 mt of rebar have been concluded in the Izmir region at around $565/mt ex-works within the past two days.
In the wire rod segment, most Turkish mills are offering at $575-585/mt FOB for January shipment, up by $5/mt week on week. In addition, workable Turkish domestic wire rod prices vary at $565-585/mt earlier this week, down by an average of $7.5/mt from last week. However, local wire rod prices are also expected to gain momentum by tomorrow.