Turkey rebar: Two mills sell cargoes to US

Two Marmara-based mills were confirmed to have sold cargoes into the US in the past 24 hours, providing a potential outlet for other mills looking to move material in the short term.

The Argus daily fob Turkey rebar assessment rose by 50¢ to $448.70/t on an actual weight basis.

One of the mills sold 15,000t of rebar at $640/t cfr into the US on a theoretical weight basis yesterday, with optionality to add another 10,000t to the vessel. Freight would be between $25/t and over $30/t, depending on the final cargo size. If the buyer pays the 6.94pc dumping duty, the mill sold around $455/t fob on an actual weight basis. But if the mill ate the duty, the sale would be around $445/t fob. It could not be confirmed which party paid the tax.

The second Marmara mill sold the same tonnage at $635-640/t cfr on a theoretical weight basis. The mills could combine the cargoes on one vessel, thereby reducing the freight rate.

Neither sale was factored into the assessment process today given the lack of clarity over who paid the duty.

Demand from southeast Asia was confirmed below $445/t fob Turkey on an actual weight basis today.

Stockists in Iskenderun increased their buying in the second half of this week, following the Eid holiday. Gebze demand is weaker in the second half of this week than in the first half.

The Argus weekly Turkish domestic rebar assessment rose by TL55.70/t to TL3035.70 ex-works including value-added tax (VAT), equivalent to $446.80/t ex-works excluding VAT.

A Marmara mill was confirmed to offer 12-32mm diameter domestic rebar at TL3,100/t ex-works including VAT, equivalent to $456.20/t ex-works excluding VAT.

An Iskenderun mill offered TL3,050/t ex-works including VAT, equivalent to $448.80/t ex-works excluding VAT.

Payas, Izmir and Gebze stockists' bids today averaged TL3,040/t, TL3,030/t and TL3,040/t ex-works including VAT, equivalent to $447.40/t, $446.0/t and $447.40/t ex-works excluding VAT, respectively.

All domestic rebar prices today are based on an exchange rate of TL5.7581:$1.