Turkish rebar buyers who had postponed their purchases ahead of the April referendum given the uncertainty in the market stepped up their purchases following the referendum amid improving seasonal conditions. As domestic rebar prices saw rapid increases due to tight availability of certain products, Turkish rebar producers preferred to focus on their domestic market instead of the export markets where demand remained weak.
Turkish rebar export offers on FOB terms have moved up by $5/mt on the upper end week on week to $435-465/mt on actual weight basis, with small volume bookings being concluded to Romania, Bulgaria, Israel and Africa at $430-435/mt FOB on actual weight basis. Some producers have filled their order books with domestic orders and so have preferred not to give offers to the export markets given decent domestic demand and supported by higher domestic prices. Even if they do give rebar offers to the export markets, they have been asking for $445-450/mt FOB on actual weight basis, remaining higher than prices in the target markets.
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in the past week domestic rebar producer Emirates Steel (ESI) revised its rebar prices for May production down by AED 92/mt ($25/mt) to AED 1,697/mt ($462/mt) ex-works. In parallel with falling producers’ prices, traders in the UAE have reduced their rebar prices as well. Currently, UAE-based buyers prefer to meet their rebar needs from their domestic market and Turkish rebar attracts no interest from the UAE market, resulting in a lack of Turkish rebar offers to the country.
Given the uncertainty of both the definitive results of the antidumping duty investigation against Turkish rebar and the Section 232 investigation , Turkish mills are hesitant and reluctant to conclude sales to the US market. In the meantime, US-based buyers’ demand for Turkish rebar has not recovered and remains weak. Turkish rebar offers to the US are still at $490-500/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis, including AD margins.
Demand for Turkish rebar in Egypt remains weak since antidumping duty investigation results have not been announced yet and also due to the scarcity of foreign currency reserves in the country. While Egyptian buyers had shown no interest in Turkish rebar offers at $445-450/mt CFR on actual weight basis, Turkish mills have preferred to focus on their domestic market rather than testing the Egyptian market with higher offers.