Posted on 06 Apr 2021
Turkish mills have sold a remarkable number of rebar cargoes to Singapore and Hong Kong recently, thanks to China’s absence. Besides high domestic rebar prices n China, the unclarity in the new export tax rebate kept Chinese suppliers away from exports.
As a result of the sales to Asia and the recovery seen in scrap prices since last week, Turkish mills increased rebar offers to $630-640/tonne from $620-630/t fob actual weight last week.
“However, demand in other major markets has yet to reach expected volumes,” says a Turkish mill. “Although we have sold some cargoes to Yemen, they are yet to reach our regular volumes. On the other hand, Israel is not buying as the inventories are quite high there."
Another producer tells Kallanish: “Almost 350,000 tonnes of rebars were sold to Singapore and Hong Kong recently, despite the high freight rates. We have managed to prolong utilisation. Some mills have even started offering July shipment cargoes while others are offering June shipment.”
Besides Asia, Turkish mills are seen to have concluded rebars to Latin American market. “Those two markets were the shining stars,” says a trader.
Rebar sales have appeared mostly at $620-635/t fob actual weight, depending on the quantity.
Turkish mills’ mesh-quality wire rod offers stand at $710-725/t fob, meanwhile. Demand in the global wire rod market, however, is yet to be sufficient.
Towards the end of the week, two scrap bookings were heard in Turkey. A Turkish mill in the west has bought HMS 1&2 80:20 at $421/t cfr from the EU. Another mill in Marmara region has bought 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 80:20, 10,000t of shredded and 10,000t of bonus at average $421/t cfr. Both bookings are for May shipment. The prices of these bookings were lower compared to previous ex-EU bookings at the beginning of the week at $423-425/t cfr.
Source:Kallanish
