Turkish merchant bar producers are seen struggling to sell in the global arena as buyers decrease their price targets each day.
On Friday, producers’ export quotes were pegged mostly at around $640-670/tonne fob Turkey for angles, $650-680/t for IPN-UPN sections, $660-690/t for flat bars, and $650-680/t for IPE sections.
Although the number of inquiries was high during last week, Turkish mills struggled to convert these into sales. This was mostly due to decreasing billet prices. Buyers further decreased their price targets as billet values continued to fall.
One Turkish merchant bar producer tells Kallanish: “While we were negotiating with European buyers, Kardemir announced lower billet prices. Although Kardemir’s prices do not represent our costs, as our previously bought higher-priced material has not yet arrived, buyers are revising their price targets based on Kardemir’s prices.”
Another producer says he received many inquiries from the Gulf Cooperation Council and the EU but failed to convert most into deals.
“Buyers’ bids are at around $620-630/t fob for angles. $635-640/t could be considered but $620/t is way too low,” says a re-roller and adds: “My previously bought billet at $555-560/t cfr has not yet arrived.”
In the billet market, the latest CIS-origin billet was concluded at $500-510/t cfr Tukey following Kardemir’s billet sales at $565-570/t ex-works on Wednesday.
Burcak Alpman Turkey
