One of Turkey’s large long-steel producers, Bastug Metalurji opened its lira-denominated rebar sales in the domestic market at lower prices July 18
Bastug’s new price list shared with S&P Global Commodity Insights showed that the company began offering 12-32 mm rebar at Lira 18,800/mt ex-works, down Lira 300/mt week on week, including 18% value-added tax, equating to $580/mt EXW, excluding VAT.
The company also reduced the list prices of its 10 mm rebar to Lira 19,200/mt EXW and 8 mm rebar to Lira 19,400/mt EXW as of July 18. Both the prices were down Lira 300/mt from a week earlier.
Bastug closed its rebar order book July 13 in a bearish market, S&P Global Commodity Insights reported earlier.
Some other Turkish producers said they have also started offering rebar at lower prices in the domestic market July 18, with some of them mulling production cuts.
Koc Metalurji, based in Southeastern Turkey, said it has reduced its capacity usage to 50%. It said more capacity reductions were on the agenda if the market slowdown persisted and sales continued to decline.
Noting that producers in Southeastern Turkey were offering 12-32 mm rebar in the domestic market at Lira 18,600-18,800/mt EXW July 18, a manager at a trading company said stockist have started offering the same rebar grade at of lower price of Lira 18,400-18,500 mt to deplete stocks.
Some producers in our region could start production cuts soon, he said, adding that prices could continue to drop on a dollar basis in the wake of tepid demand.
Imported scrap prices have also weakened because of a lackluster finished product market.
Platts, part of S&P Global, assessed Turkish imports of premium heavy melting scrap 1/2 (80:20) at $365/mt CFR on July 17, down $2 on the day, while the assessment for Turkish exported rebar was stable day on day at $580/mt FOB.
