Posted on 05 Mar 2020
Turkish rebar exports increased 1.7% on-year in January to 556,344 tonnes. They were also up from 486,426t in December, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data monitored by Kallanish. The average sales price was $427/tonne versus $474/t in January 2019.
Yemen, Turkish rebar’s largest export market in 2019, was again the biggest destination with 142,061t in January. This was down from 150,307t a year earlier and down -8.7% on-month. Israel was again the second-largest export destination with 87,369t, up 74% on-year, but down -17% compared to December.
The USA, surprisingly, was third-largest market with 58,033t in January, versus zero a year ago. This was the largest monthly tonnage of rebar supplied by Turkey to the US for quite some time. This was followed by Ethiopia which almost trebled intake to 49,671t and Singapore with 41,325t versus zero last year.
Djibouti and Jamaica each more than doubled their shipments from Turkey to 38,253t and 15,271t respectively in January. Panama sourced 13,271t in January versus 16,348t. Iraq’s intake in January was 10,559t versus only 389t a year prior.
As a result of EU quotas being filled by Turkish mills in September, there were no export sales to the UK and Ireland, which sourced 59,757t and 32,714t respectively a year ago. The Netherlands, Romania and Germany, which were the largest buyers with 23,604t, 20,890t and 14,810t respectively last year, sourced only a combined 5,490t in January.
Rebar performed better than wire rod exports which declined -35% on-year in the first month of 2020. Turkish mills expect to continue selling in the US market, but the tonnages seen before Section 232 tariffs will be impossible to reach.
Source:Kallanish
