The liveliness of the Turkish domestic long steel market has been reflected in increased prices for the export markets. Last week, after a significant volume of billet transactions was concluded in the local market, domestic billet quotations moved up and Turkish producers increased their rebar prices for the domestic market. Turkish rebar producers have now also increased their prices for the export market.
In the last couple of weeks, not many rebar deals have been heard in the Turkish export market, while deals which were concluded were for small tonnages. However, Turkish producers have issued new rebar export offers, and have significantly increased the volume of their offers to the Middle East for May and June shipments. Accordingly, Turkish producers' rebar offers to the export market are standing at $680-685/mt FOB on actual weight basis, while Turkish producers' rebar offers to Yemen and Dubai are at $690-700/mt CFR on theoretical weight basis.
Ahead of the Muslim religious month of Ramadan which this year is in July, the volume of Turkish export offers to Egypt, Yemen, the UAE, Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan has increased. Turkish producers consider that in Ramadan rebar demand from the Middle East will likely decline and so they are rushing to conclude as many deals as possible before Ramadan. Buyers in the Middle East state that export activity to the region will continue in April, May and June, but thereafter activity will remain slack until September. It is also thought that the rush to conclude deals ahead of Ramadan may cause a price softening in Turkish producers' export offers.