By the end of the first week of May, most Turkish mills have withdrawn their export rebar offers, backed by soaring scrap and billet prices, and fairly full order books for long products. Amid rising input costs and the bullish mood among suppliers, export demand has revived and the earlier announced targets of $690-700/mt FOB have been achieved in deals this week. In the meantime, some Turkish producers have started voicing indicative offers at $720-725/mt FOB for August shipment.
According to sources, an Izmir-based mill has concluded a rebar deal for 50,000 mt at around $725/mt CFR Singapore on theoretical weight basis for June shipment, which is estimated at around $700/mt FOB. Moreover, ex-Turkey rebar deals have been concluded to Hong Kong, Peru and Israel at $695-700/mt FOB this week without any further details disclosed by the time of publication. Turkish mills are expected to focus more on their rebar sales to Asia in the short term in order to take advantage of the cancellation of the Chinese tax rebate for rebar and wire rod.
In the local Turkish rebar market, most mills in the Marmara and Izmir regions are currently offering rebar at $700-715/mt ex-works. In addition, local traders’ rebar prices have settled at $703-708/mt ex-warehouse. Sources report around 30,000 mt of rebar were traded in the Izmir region at $680/mt ex-works yesterday. Some local buyers are still taking their time to adapt to such a sharp price increase and to adjust their financial situation to the new reality.
In the wire rod segment, sources report a few offers have been heard at $780-790/mt FOB for shipment in late July and August. However, most mills have stopped quoting and even wire rod prices above $800/mt FOB are also in the market for extended delivery periods.