Turkish rebar export prices move sideways

Turkish rebar export prices have remained unchanged during the past week at $430-480/mt FOB on actual weight basis. Demand for Turkish rebar in the overseas markets has declined slightly in June compared to the levels seen in May and Turkish steel producers are currently seen to be dealing with the deliveries of their previous sales concluded in May and June. Hence, they are not keen to give a large number of offers to their export markets ahead of the end-of-Ramadan holiday on June 25-27. It has become harder for Turkish steel mills to predict the future trend of the rebar market amid the recent price fluctuations recorded in their domestic market and also due to Chinese rebar export offers which had been unstable for a while but have increased rapidly this week. As a result, Turkish steelmakers have decided to wait until after the end-of-Ramadan holiday to determine their new price strategies, while they are just monitoring the market for now.
 
Having preferred for a while not to give offers to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) market, Turkish steel producers have been giving new offers to the country this week at $440/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis. However, UAE-based buyers consider these offers to be disadvantageous in terms of price and delivery time, and so there has been no demand in the UAE for Turkish rebar during the past week. On the other hand, the embargo initiated for Qatar - always a regular supplier of rebar to the UAE - has caused domestic demand in the UAE to increase. Market sources state that UAE-based steel producers have met this domestic demand by working at full capacity.
 
With infrastructure and construction projects in Egypt continuing, Ramadan has not impacted domestic demand in Egypt much. As a result, rebar demand in the country is still lively. Accordingly, Egyptian buyers concluded a deal for Turkish rebar last week at $440/mt CFR (on actual weight basis) despite the 10-19 percent temporary antidumping margin imposed on Turkish rebar imports. Meanwhile, market sources report that demand and price inquiries for Turkish rebar continue to be heard in Egypt.  However, Turkish steel mills have decided to wait until after the holiday to determine their new strategies, as already mentioned above. Also, they have not yet passed on the rises seen in import scrap prices to their rebar quotations. Accordingly, they are unwilling to give offers to Egypt for now and have not determined any new price level for the country.
 
Due to the Section 232 investigation, Turkish buyers have been unwilling to give offers to the US, while buyers have also been reluctant to conclude purchases of Turkish rebar. As a result, Turkish steel producers are still not very active in the US rebar market. Turkish steel mills are responding to inquiries made by US buyers, with prices in the range of $500-510/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis, and are anxious to ensure that any potential costs accruing from the Section 232 investigation will be carried by US buyers.
 
Additionally, according to market sources, Turkish rebar sales for small tonnages to markets such as Israel, Bulgaria, Africa and Romania have been concluded at $430/mt FOB on actual weight basis but sales to these market are also very slow.