Turkish rebar producers are facing very low demand, with almost all players in the local and global markets halting their purchases in order to gauge scrap price developments.

Although there are numerous negotiations taking place in the market, no confirmed fresh scrap deals have been heard so far. European suppliers are heard to be offering HMS 1&2 80:20 at $285-288/tonne cfr Turkey, while US and Baltic suppliers are trying to keep their offers for the same grade at $290/t cfr.

A Baltic-origin scrap deal was heard in the market on Thursday, but concluded on 24 September and therefore not representative of today’s market value. The deal comprises 14,000 tonnes of HMS 80:20 at $292/t, 12,000t of shredded at $297/t and 10,000t bonus at $302/t cfr. Another Baltic-origin HMS 80:20 cargo is heard to have been sold at $289/t cfr on Wednesday; however, this is yet to be confirmed.

Some Turkish mills have kept their rebar offers unchanged at $460/t fob Turkey. However, most producers’ prices stand at $450-455/t fob actual weight.

A Turkish rebar producer tells Kallanish: “We have sold almost nothing this week. There’s no need to decrease the price if there are no buyers. We prefer to wait for demand to come and scrap prices to gain clarity before changing our price.”

Another producer says: “We have decreased our offer price by another $5/t this week. We can update it anytime once scrap prices settle.”

Demand in the Asian market was sluggish ahead of the holidays this week. No fresh Turkish rebar sales have been heard. US buyers have also backed off to observe Turkish mills’ scrap buying prices.

Only a few small-quantity Turkish rebar export sales have been heard this week. Prices vary from $447-455/t fob actual weight, depending on quantity and destination.

Rebar demand in Turkey’s domestic market is also slow this week as buyers are reluctant to buy amid much uncertainty. This is being caused by volatile exchange rates, the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, the unclear value of imported scrap, and the rise in Turkey-Greece tensions.

The very volatile TRY-USD rate on Thursday caused sellers first to increase offer prices sharply and then to decrease. Prices on Thursday afternoon stood at TRY 4,100-4,170/t ex-works, VAT included. With the lira at 7.73 per dollar on Thursday afternoon, this corresponds to $449-457/t ex-works, VAT excluded.