Posted on 25 Apr 2025
Following a period of market stagnation, buyers are cautiously returning to Turkish long steel mills, drawn by increasingly competitive prices underpinned by scrap values hitting a three-year low.
Mills’ official export quotes for rebar on Thursday were mostly at $540-545/tonne fob Türkiye actual weight and at $545-555/t fob for mesh-quality wire rod. These are down $5 from the low end and $15/t from the high end of last week’s range, notes Kallanish.
However, $535/t fob for rebar is obtainable from multiple mills, while a few would also consider $530/t for significant volumes. Buyers are nevertheless seen bidding mostly at around $520/t fob, citing lower scrap prices.
Demand in the EU and Balkans saw some improvement this week, with two mills concluding rebar sales at around $537-540/t fob Türkiye for rebar.
Yemeni demand remains lacking.
Sales into other regular markets, such as Northern Cyprus and Africa, have continued.
There was an inquiry this week about Turkish longs from the UK. However, the buyer was unsure about the right time to purchase and seemed to be suspending the order.
Some sales of Turkish steel have been concluded to Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, although the share of long steel was limited.
In the scrap market, two fresh deals were heard on Thursday at $319/t and $320/t cfr Türkiye respectively for HMS 1&2 80:20 from the EU. Although a deal at $315/t cfr was also circulated in the market, this was yet to be confirmed at the time of publication.
Most market participants believe the downtick, which has carried scrap prices to three-year lows, is about to end. However, a significant uptick seems unlikely today unless China provides stronger sentiment after the expected Politburo meeting next week, ongoing trade tariffs ease and, most importantly, Turkish producers see a recovery in domestic steel sales. Sales volumes in export markets remain too small to meet mills’ requirements.
Market players find scrap will stabilise at around $320/t from the EU and $325/t cfr from the US.
Although some resumption in domestic longs sales was observed on 22 April, demand remained thin after the 23 April holiday. Offers for rebar in the domestic market stood at $533-545/t ex-works.
Source:Kallanish
