Turkish-origin merchant bar export prices have remained largely stable, with little change reported week-on-week. According to Kallanish, the official export quotes for angles, IPN-UPN sections, flat bar, and IPE sections were predominantly pegged around $590-620 per tonne FOB Turkey on Friday, matching the previous week’s prices. However, the price spread between Turkish producers was wide, and global buyers have not been willing to accept the higher-end offers.

While some producers with longer delivery times have quoted prices around $620 per tonne, most deals were concluded in the range of $590-605 per tonne FOB, depending on the destination and tonnage. The demand for merchant bars remained relatively subdued last week, with only a handful of inquiries from the EU. Buyers’ bids were generally below $600 per tonne FOB, reflecting the sluggish demand ahead of the winter holidays.

Although a few inquiries came from North Africa, a key market for Turkish merchant bars, no deals were finalized due to resistance from buyers, who found the offers uncompetitive. A shipment was sold to Algeria the week before at $655 per tonne CFR, which equates to roughly $595 per tonne FOB Turkey.

After some spot sales to Guatemala, Argentina, and Peru the previous week, there were no new transactions reported to these regions. Additionally, inquiries were received from Palestine and Saudi Arabia, but Saudi buyers, citing more competitive offers from China, rejected the Turkish prices.

In the billet market, offers for Russia-origin billets stood at $445-450 per tonne FOB Black Sea, but Turkish buyers showed no interest in these prices. Within the domestic Turkish market, billets were offered at $525-530 per tonne ex-works, indicating a more stable pricing environment for local demand.