- Buying activity keeps improving in the Iraqi market for longs. Many private projects are planned to be started in the country soon, so market participants are quite optimistic. Though end-users still show moderate demand, stockists, whose inventories are mostly at optimal level now, have started to purchase the material in advance.
Iraqi buyers still prefer Ukrainian rebar in view of its more acceptable quality. ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, in turn, started offering its May output of rebar to Iraq at $770-775/t CPT Baghdad last week, however, Iraqi traders were bidding $10-15/t below that level. As a result, the manufacturer reduced its quotations to $760-765/t CPT Baghdad several days later, which corresponds to last deal prices in mid-March. Turkish suppliers dropped their offers to $755-765/t CPT Baghdad last week, $10-15/t down from mid-March. As a result, Iraqi buyers have started signing deals for Turkish material at the bottom end of the price range.
Domestic supplier Erbil Steel has reduced its quotations of rebar by $5/t in two weeks, citing minimal adjustments to prices for import material. At the same time, stockists have raised prices for Turkish rebar in the same period, probably before Turkish suppliers dropped them, while leaving those for Ukrainian material unchanged. As a result, they quote import products in line with offers from foreign suppliers or $5/t above.
( Source: www.metalexpert-group.com )