Wildfires and country-wide power cuts hit sentiment in Turkey

Massive wildfires in southern Turkey and country-wide power cuts occurred Aug. 2 in Turkey’s largest cities – including Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa and Adana – turning market sentiment negative.

As power cuts arising from the huge heat-related increase in electricity consumption in recent weeks ended incrementally as of noon Aug. 2, no notable effect has been reported in steel mill output.

The number of people who lost their lives due to the 129 wildfires across 32 cities in Turkey since July 28 rose to eight as of Aug. 2, while firefighters continued to battle for a sixth day to contain the fires, the country’s agriculture and forestry minister said.

Although a total of 122 wildfires out of 129 have been brought under control, blazes continued to threaten some residential areas in Southern Turkey. Some new wildfires were also reported in different regions of Turkey on Aug. 2.

Rebar prices decline by $15-$20

The Turkish rebar market entered the new week with mill price cuts in this sentiment.

Some Turkish long steel producers, including major longs maker Icdas, pulled down their lira-denominated 12-32 mm domestic rebar list prices by $15-$20 to $700-$720/mt EXW on Aug. 2, depending on region and tonnage, due to slow demand and ongoing declines in imported scrap prices.

S&P Global Platts assessed Turkish imports of premium heavy melting scrap 1/2 80:20 on July 30 at $467.25/mt CFR, down $2.25/mt on day. The index has dropped $29.75/mt over the past month, down from $497/mt CFR on June 30.

Some further declines could be seen in imported scrap prices in the coming days, amid slow finished product demand, according to sources.

Some Turkish stockists 12-32 mm rebar offer prices also declined in this sentiment below $700/mt ex-stock on Aug. 2.

— Cenk Can