The daily Davis Index for Turkish imports of US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) decreased by $2.58/mt to $428.25/mt cfr on Wednesday as mills delayed deep-sea cargo bookings hoping for lower prices.
Buying activity remains sluggish but exporters have found other homes with multiple cargo sales to Egypt and Italy concluding in the past 1i0 days and Mexico now in the market for cargoes.
One European supplier offered HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $425/mt cfr Turkey and a second offered a mixed composition cargo at an average price of $435/mt cfr, with no deals reported so far. Some Baltic suppliers are in the market with HMS 1&2 (80:20) at around $430/mt cfr, but bids have trended about $10-15/mt lower.
With deep-sea cargo purchases on hold in Turkey, a new transaction was fixed in the Azov-Black Sea basin, where a Romanian exporter sold HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $385/mt cfr to a Marmara-based mill. Prices for Romanian material have dropped by $10/mt since Monday. This region is at a pricing disadvantage since Turkey is pretty much the only destination for their material.
Daily domestic spot rebar prices in Turkey declined by TRY20/mt ($3/mt) to TRY5,380-5,480/mt ex-works, including 18pc VAT on Wednesday. Local sales are slow as rebar buyers expect lower prices, referring to negative sentiment in the scrap market. Some market participants feel that mills are likely to halt their push for lower scrap prices because it has begun to impact finished product sales.
Icdas reduced its rebar prices by TRY30/mt to TRY5,670/mt ex-works Biga and TRY5,750/mt ex-works Istanbul. All domestic prices include 18pc VAT.
($1=TRY7.59)