The daily Davis Index for Turkish imports of US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) was flat at $397.50/mt cfr on Thursday as sellers refused low bids.
A few Turkish mills were looking for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the USA and the Baltic region at $380-390/mt cfr but failed to find any deep-sea cargo at those rates. Thus, their bids moved to $390-395/mt cfr on Thursday as a few more mills entered the market. Negotiations are reviving gradually, and new deals are expected as buyers have re-entered the market after steel sales resumed.
There is a renewed demand for short-sea cargoes as well with one mill ready to pay up to $395/mt cfr for A3 material from Russia (Rostov-on-Don), though most suppliers are resisting prices below $400/mt cfr on this route.
However, the downtrend in the Turkish domestic scrap market continues with mills dropping purchase prices for shipbreaking scrap by $5/mt to $375/mt delivered over a day.
Some steel product sales were discussed in the market on Thursday. A Turkish mill was heard to have sold about 10,000mt of steel billet locally at $550/mt ex-works this week, while an Iskenderun-based producer was heard to have closed a deal at $680/mt fob for $30,000mt of wire rod to Holland.
The daily domestic spot rebar price in Turkey increased by TRY70/mt ($10/mt) at the upper end of the previous range to TRY4,780-4,900/mt ex-works, including 18pc VAT, on Thursday amid some trading activity in the Istanbul and Izmir regions.
Icdas reduced its local rebar prices by TRY140/mt ($20/mt) and opened sales in Biga at TRY5,000/mt ex-works, including 18pc VAT, and in Istanbul at TRY5,060/mt ex-works, including 18pc VAT. Bastug Metalurji dropped its rebar price by TRY100/mt ($14/mt) to TRY5,000/mt ex-works, including 18pc VAT.
The daily exported rebar prices in Turkey were unchanged at $600/mt fob on Thursday.
($1=TRY7.13)