Although offer prices for Turkish rebar to the US remain competitive compared to US domestic spot prices, alternate sources are starting to make their mark on the import market. Sources tell SteelOrbis that newly-offered rebar from Vietnam is being offered for just $10/mt more than current Turkish offers (on the CFR level), shipped to US Gulf ports. Japanese offers comparable to Vietnam are also available, but more on the West Coast than the Gulf—for now.
Sources also said Peru and Taiwan are in the mix of alternatives, although exact price points could not be confirmed—either way, import license data show 23,198 mt of rebar arriving from Peru in July (as of July 19) and 42,118 mt from Taiwan, which might not be as significant as Turkey’s import permit total of 145,998 mt so far in July, but that could change if offers become strong competition with Turkey.
As for Turkish offers, prices dropped by $0.50 cwt. ($10/nt or $11/mt) this week into the range of $20.00-$22.00 cwt. ($400-$440/nt or $441-$485/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, and sources tell SteelOrbis that they expect further downticks in the near-term.