Turkish rebar exports soared 56% on-year in August to 536,274 tonnes, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data monitored by Kallanish. This was also up from 437,715t in July. The average value of exports was $551/tonne versus $457.6/t in August 2017.

The surge was largely down to Yemen sourcing a mammoth 139,989t in a single month versus only 8,534t in August 2017, albeit an unusually low base for Turkey’s current top rebar export market.

More impressive were the second- and fourth-largest markets respectively, Singapore and the US, which increased intake 83% and 34% to 51,796t and 41,142t, the latter despite significant trade barriers. Israel dropped one place to third with a -37% drop in intake to 48,477t. Fifth was Canada with 31,960t versus zero in August 2017.

Other notable mentions are Egypt and Iraq which sourced far less on-year, and Chile which sourced zero versus over 20,000t last year. On the other hand, Romania and Bulgaria grew intake, while Ukraine – a major rebar exporter – sourced 15,338t in August versus zero last year.

Despite recoveries in July and August, Turkish rebar exports in January-August still fell -4% on-year to 3.64 million tonnes.

The top three markets were Yemen, Israel and the US with 605,213t, 431,597t and 303,531t respectively. This was up 45% for Yemen, down -10% for Israel and down almost half for the US. Canada and Ethiopia took in 263,790t and 165,018t respectively, up 125% and up 15%.

Other notable mentions are Romania, Malaysia and Panama which took in 144,827t, 122,110t and 100,057t respectively versus approximately 70,000t, 85,000t and 79,000t last year. Singapore, Hong Kong and Iraq, however, took much less, while United Arab Emirates’ intake virtually zeroed.

Turkish exports of semi-finished product, meanwhile, rose 8% for HS code 720711 to 41,0723t and over 17-fold for HS code 720720 to 25,629t in August. Eight-month exports fell -56% and rose 5% respectively to 167,915t and 103,908t.