While demand for Turkish wire rod in the export markets has remained slack this week, Turkish sellers’ price declines in recent weeks were not enough to meet buyers’ price ideas. As a result, buyers have continued to exert pressure on Turkish wire rod prices. However, Turkish wire rod exporters have maintained their export prices unchanged over the past week at $330-340/mt FOB, after the price reductions they had made over the previous two weeks.
Meanwhile, in the US, Turkey’s most important wire rod export market, buyers are exerting additional pressure on Turkish wire rod prices, assuming that Turkish producers’ production costs have decreased in line with the ongoing downtrend of import scrap prices in Turkey. Accordingly, US buyers continue to postpone their Turkish wire rod bookings, expecting further price declines in the coming period. Meanwhile, ex-CIS wire rod offers to the US are at $285-295/mt FOB, constituting aggressive competition for Turkish wire rod offers.