Turkish merchant bar producers maintained stable pricing last week, even as other long steel products values continued to decline, Kallanish reports. The price steadiness was largely underpinned by firm scrap and billet values.

Producers’ official export offers were pegged on Friday mostly at above $585-600/tonne fob Türkiye for angles, IPN-UPN sections, flat bars and IPE sections.

Amid a seasonal slowdown and buyers’ lower price expectations, demand failed to record improvement, placing additional pressure on prices. While producers with longer order books resisted reducing offers below $590/t fob, others, that were more eager to secure sales, were reportedly accepting lower levels.

In the commercial-grade segment, buyers continued pushing prices down, with bids emerging at around $565-575/t fob. However, Turkish producers largely deemed these levels unworkable. Still, several sales were concluded at $580-585/t fob for commercial grades. Higher-grade merchant bar managed to fetch firmer prices, reflecting relatively better buyer acceptance.

Although trading volumes remained limited, demand surfaced from Argentina, Brazil, the UK, Algeria, and Tunisia. By contrast, European demand for Turkish merchant bar declined significantly.

In the imported billet market, early last week saw deals for CIS-origin material concluded at $450-453/t cfr Türkiye. However, by the end of the week, offers at these levels had largely disappeared, with new quotes emerging at above $455/t cfr.

Meanwhile, Asia-origin billet prices continued to climb, surpassing $460/t cfr, reflecting firmer sentiment in China.