International demand for Turkish rebar has failed to improve during the past week and is still at low levels. Receiving low demand from their export markets, Turkish rebar producers have reduced their export prices by an average of $15/mt week on week against the backdrop of lower production costs caused by the declines seen in import scrap and billet quotations. As a result, Turkey’s rebar export prices have decreased to $540-550/mt FOB on actual weight basis, while Turkish mills’ export sales have failed to accelerate despite the lower prices.
On the other hand, the record depreciation of the Turkish lira against the US dollar has caused the uncertainties in the local Turkish rebar market to increase and has also caused trading activity to slow down significantly as domestic rebar prices move up above TRY 3,000/mt ex-warehouse, including VAT. Since Turkish steel producers believe they will not receive lively domestic demand ahead of the snap election to be held on June 24, they want to stimulate their export sales, and so market sources state that Turkish mills may offer $5-10/mt discounts for actual sales.