Turkish long steel producers further decreased their prices last week amid subdued demand and lower scrap.

On Thursday, Turkish mills’ official rebar offers were at $595-610/tonne fob Turkey actual weight. Offers for mesh-quality wire rod are at $615-625/t fob. However, amid lacking demand, $590/t seems obtainable from most rebar producers, while even $585/t might be achievable for higher volumes.

Amid war and issues in the Red Sea, export demand remains lacking in Israel, Yemen and Ethiopia, Turkey’s major markets.

European buyers were also out of the market amid holidays last week. However, Turkish mills expect them to return to the market in the second January week as their purchases in December remained relatively low and energy is quite costly in the EU. However, Turkey’s sales to the region will continue to remain limited to safeguard quota amounts. Market players expect Turkey to fulfil January quotas soon as sales to the region improved significantly in the last quarter of 2023.

Turkish producers seem pessimistic for long steel exports as the calendar turns to 2024.

One producer tells Kallanish: “Despite a sharp decline in exports, we survived somehow in 2023. But with the current outlook, 2024 does not seem bright, with more challenging events, and may even fall below 2023 figures.”

Demand in Turkey's domestic market remained buoyant in the last week of the year as stockists, who avoid showing year-end profits, were active in the market. On Thursday, mills’ offers stood at $590-620/t ex-works, unchanged from a day earlier.