Turkish longs producers have succeeded in selling large rebar volumes abroad, gaining support mainly from Asian and Latin American customers. These deals have helped the producers compensate for weak sales in their domestic market where demand has been subdued for weeks now amid tough financial conditions, with the export deals concluded a wide range of $635-660/mt FOB depending on the destination.
The lower end of the range - $635-645/mt FOB base - has been fixed in deals to Asia. A Marmara region-based Turkish mill sold 50,000 mt of rebar for July shipment to Singapore at $670/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis. Another 50,000 mt, according to sources, were sold to Hong Kong at $680-685/mt CFR. In addition, 25,000 mt were traded to Canada at $660/mt FOB for July shipment, SteelOrbis has learned. Latin America has been active too. A batch of 20,000 mt of rebar has recently been sold to Peru at $660/mt FOB, including up to $20/mt extras. Another 22,000 mt were sold to Chile last week, but the details have not been disclosed by the time of publication.
According to sources, small rebar lots were traded last week to Iraq at $640/mt loaded truck. Moreover, around 5,000 mt of rebar were sold to Yemen at $650/mt FOB on actual weight basis for June shipment.
In the local Turkish rebar market, most mills in the Izmir and Marmara regions are currently offering rebar at $630-635/mt ex-works, while local rebar spot prices were at around $615-625/mt ex-warehouse as of Apil 20. A few mills and re-rollers in the Iskenderun region have closed their local rebar sales today. SteelOrbis observes that market players are more positive about the future trend of the import scrap market, mostly believing that prices have already hit bottom.
In the wire rod segment, a few Turkish mills have started voicing official wire rod export offers for June shipments at $720-725/mt FOB, versus $710-725/mt FOB last week. Slightly higher levels are available for extended lead times. Sources report special discounts may be applicable for serious buyers and a few mills are applying aggressive pricing in order to generate sales. A 3,500 mt deal has been reported to Romania for May shipment at $710/mt FOB.