Turkish rebar export prices move up for fourth consecutive week

In the past week, Turkish rebar export prices have continued their upward trend for the fourth consecutive week due to the rises seen in scrap and billet quotations. During the past week, Turkish rebar offers to the export markets have increased by an average of $22.5/mt to $410-425/mt FOB on actual weight basis. Market sources state that purchases of Turkish rebar have been continuing in some of Turkish steel producers' target markets, though the purchase volumes have been lower than their expectations. Meanwhile, Turkish steel mills are focusing on their domestic market for sales since domestic rebar prices are higher than export prices.
 
In Egypt, the biggest economy in the Arab world after Saudi Arabia, where Turkish steelmakers have been concluding sales regularly, has moved to freely floating exchange rate system after signing an agreement with IMF for credit of $12 billion. As a result, the official domestic currency of the country has lost significant strength against the US dollar, losing approximately 50 percent of its value compared to the dollar. On the other hand, in the black market the Egyptian pound (EGP) has declined to EGP 13 to a dollar from EGP 18.20 to a dollar. Following this development, on November 2, Egypt-based steelmaker EZZ Steel reduced its domestic rebar prices to its previous level at EGP 7,350/mt ($828/mt) ex-works, including 13 percent VAT. The steelmaker's domestic rebar prices had been announced at EGP 8,548/mt ($963/mt) ex-works on November 1. During the past week, demand for Turkish rebar in Egypt remained at decent levels, while Turkish rebar offers to the country have increased by $15/mt to $420-425/mt FOB on actual weight basis. Also, new Turkish rebar deals in Egypt has been heard this week in this price range. Although most of Egyptian steel producers have not announced their new rebar prices, EZZ Steel's downward revision of its rebar quotations has posed a risk for Turkish producers' rebar sales to the region.
 
Meanwhile, local producers in the US have surprisingly increased their domestic rebar quotations and US-based buyers have accepted the hike. Accordingly, Turkish rebar offers to the country have risen by $35/mt week on week to $440-450/mt CFR. In the current week, US buyers have also accepted the rises in Turkish rebar offers. Additionally, on November 4 the United States International Trade Commission (US ITC) determined that there is a reasonable indication that US industry is materially injured by reason of imports of steel concrete reinforcing bar from Japan, Taiwan, and Turkey that are allegedly sold in the United States at less than fair value and subsidized by the government of Turkey. As a result of the ITC's affirmative determinations, the US Department of Commerce will continue to conduct its antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on imports of this product from Japan, Taiwan, and Turkey.
 
Buyers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - another important rebar export market for Turkey - consider Turkish rebar offers, which have been moving up sharply since the beginning of October, to be on the high side. As a result, they are still meeting their rebar needs from their domestic market, and so Turkish steel mills prefer not to give new offers to the country.