<span>Demand from end-users has improved in Turkish domestic market for longs on the need to finish some construction works before Ramadan. Thus, local trading companies, who have been refraining from purchases for a long time and those with depleted inventories, have started to restock actively. Turkish suppliers have used the situation and continued to raise prices for finished longs. Besides, some local mills have re-directed the material from export market to the domestic one, where they can sell it at rather high prices. Although most market players believe an upturn in demand will be short-lived, Turkish producers, taking into account coming deals for scrap at higher prices, hope they will be able to keep quotations at the current level or even raise them by $10/t (TRY 15/t) by next week. <br> Turkish producers have increased quotations of July rolling of rebar in a week by $13-15/t (TRY 30-35/t) including currency fluctuations, to $738-754/t (TRY 1,420-1,450/t) EXW. Prices in lira terms are shown inclusive of 18% VAT, those in US dollar terms are VAT-exclusive. The exchange rate is $1 = TRY 1.63. <br> In particular, Turkish steelmaker Kardemir has raised quotations of rebar by $23/t including currency fluctuations (TRY 36/t) as compared to end-June, to $739/t (TRY 1,421/t) EXW. At the beginning of the week, Kardemir’s prices were at least $5-20/t (TRY 10-30/t) above those of other producers, but now the latter offer the material at higher levels. As a result, quotations of rebar from Kardemir are currently at the lower end of the general price range in the local market. <br> Although demand for wire rod is not so high, some mills have also raised offers, probably expecting buyers to make some deals for August output of the material with delivery after Ramadan. In particular, Habas has increased prices for August output by $8-11/t (TRY 20-25/t) in a week, while Isdemir has left quotations unchanged. <br> As for semis, prices for August casting of square billet have risen in two stages by $30-35/t over the week. At the beginning of the week, deals for the material were made at $680/t EXW, but now offers are as high as $700-705/t EXW. Thus, local re-rollers are showing less interest in the material. <br> ( Source: <a href="http://www.metalexpert-group.com/"><span><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">www.metalexpert-group.com</font></span></a> )</span>