According to market sources, demand for Turkish rebar in Turkish mills’ main export markets is at low levels, while Turkish producers’ rebar offers to markets such as Israel, Yemen and Africa, where sales of small tonnages of Turkish rebar are regularly concluded, are at $460-470/mt FOB on actual weight basis with deals concluded at $455-465/mt FOB on actual weight basis, i.e., at the same levels as last week’s offers.
It is observed that Turkish steelmakers’ rebar offers to the export markets are currently at $460-490/mt FOB on actual weight basis, indicating an increase of $5/mt on the lower end week on week with the influence of the rises recorded in Chinese and ex-CIS long steel quotations.
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where Turkish mills have failed to offer attractive prices for a long time, local steel mill Emirates Steel Industries (ESI) has announced its rebar prices for August output. ESI has increased its domestic rebar prices by AED 97/mt ($26/mt) compared to June and July output to AED 1,872/mt ($510/mt) ex-works. Despite the upward revision seen in ESI’s domestic rebar prices, the current levels of Turkish producers’ rebar offers are considered to be on the high side by UAE-based buyers. Meanwhile, in the current week Turkish mills have again not given any new rebar offers to the UAE. UAE-based buyers prefer to work with local suppliers due to more attractive prices and delivery times, while their demand for import rebar is not expected to improve in the short term since the current volume of domestic rebar supply is at decent levels.
Market sources state that, although Egypt has imposed a 10-19 percent temporary antidumping margin on imports of Turkish rebar, local buyers continue to make price inquiries for Turkish rebar. While Turkish exporters’ rebar offers to Egypt stand at $480-490/mt CFR on actual weight basis, buyers’ firm bids are seen to be at $460/mt CFR on actual weight basis. Market sources state that, with the antidumping margin imposed on Turkish rebar imports added to the above prices, current Turkish rebar prices are considered to be on the high side by Egyptian buyers and so no new Turkish rebar booking has been heard in Egypt this week.
Despite the rises seen in domestic rebar offers in the US, given the lack of an announcement regarding the Section 232 probe, US-based buyers’ demand for long steel imports has failed to improve with buyers maintaining their cautious stance and remaining unwilling to conclude purchases of Turkish rebar. Turkish steelmakers are occasionally responding to inquiries made by US buyers, with their prices in an estimated range of $510-520/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis, though they are still anxious to ensure that any potential costs accruing from the Section 232 investigation will be carried by US buyers.
Additionally, a Turkish steel producer has reportedly concluded a sale to the Far East for 50,000 mt of rebar but this deal has not been confirmed by any of the parties yet. The rapid increases seen in Chinese long steel prices in the international market has caused Far Eastern buyers’ demand for Turkish rebar to rise slightly, while SteelOrbis has been informed that price inquiries for Turkish rebar continue to be made from the Far East region.