A few scrap bookings have been heard made this week by Turkish mills, but none from the US, while interest in billet resurfaced. Rebar has been sold to Ethiopia but talks with United Arab Emirates buyers for November shipment continue without any deals so far, market participants tell Kallanish.

A major Turkish mill has reduced its offer to UAE to $328/tonne cfr Dubai theoretical weight. However, traders there are bidding at $315-320/t after Emirates Steel lowered last week its rebar price to a record-low of $373/t ex-works, unusually for two months in advance – both November and December deliveries. The Abu Dhabi-based mill has since fully filled its order book.

“The Turks won’t manage to bridge the gap [… between offers and bids] unless scrap comes down a lot,” says a Dubai-based trader. A cargo of up to 30,000 tonnes is likely to be sold in the next few days at around $325/t cfr Dubai ($315/t fob Turkey actual weight), he adds. The remainder of the vessel will then head to Oman or another Gulf country. The large tonnages imported from Turkey earlier this year have been slow to clear, resulting in oversupply in UAE.

Around 30,000t of rebar were reported sold by Turkish mills to Ethiopia at $320/t fob Turkey, down $10/t on the price they were expected to fetch last week during negotiations.

Scrap deals for HMS 1&2 80:20 were heard at $167/t cfr Turkey for 15,000t from the UK at the start of the week, followed by a 30,000t cargo at the same price from Holland. HMS 75:25 was heard sold from Europe at $160/t cfr Turkey for 15,000t. The last deep-sea deal from the US occurred last week at $174/t cfr for HMS 1&2 80:20.

At current prices billet is uncompetitive against scrap, according to one trader, so “… Turks will continue to buy scrap, but the problem is [… finished product] demand”. Two other sources, however, say a Russian mill concluded a 20,000t billet cargo to Turkey at either $265/t or $268/t cfr Marmara. Scrap prices are expected to come down further.

Turkish mills in the Istanbul area are offering rebar at $325-330/t fob, although one is heard making product available at $320/t. Iskenderun mills are offering at $340/t fob due to stronger demand in the region over the last week. One trader believes this demand spike is only temporarily. Activity in Turkey is seen slowing leading up to the 1 November general election.