Saudi Arabia has not imported rebar in 2018 and cannot utilize its full production capacity due to weak domestic demand, Ahmed Al-Hussain, rebar director of Saudi National Committee for Steel Industry said at Fastmarkets MB’s Middle East Iron and Steel Conference in Dubai on Tuesday December 11.

Read the full transcript from episode 3, season 2 of the Fast Forward podcast with Andrea Hotter, featuring William Adams, Rowena Smith and Ahmad Ghahreman

Turkish domestic rebar prices have increased slightly in line with the rising costs for scrap and billet, sources said on Thursday November 30.

Market participants in Asia are anticipating a surge in deliveries of lower-priced United States-origin ferrous scrap and Turkish rebar in the coming weeks as Turkey's economic troubles continue.

The fall in import prices for finished steel products in the United States was not enough to attract many buyers due to logjams at domestic ports that have made it costly, time-consuming and risky to buy foreign steel, Fastmarkets has learned

Rebar prices in Europe have been under downward pressure from subdued demand and the situation is unlikely to change for better anytime soon.

The rate at which the European Commission’s import safeguard quotas for wire rod and rebar are filling up is still accelerating, and may give domestic long steel producers an opportunity to raise their prices in the next few weeks despite lukewarm demand.

Key Asian markets Taiwan and the Philippines will have to rely more on higher-priced steel billet from Southeast Asia if they can no longer procure Russian material amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to sources

There is an increasing likelihood that Russian hot-rolled coil might be sold through Chinese channels in the near term due to the mounting sanctions being imposed on Russian oligarchs and businesses, a trader in Asia told Fastmarkets on Friday March 11.

Saudi Arabia’s biggest steel producer, Hadeed Sabic, has increased its domestic rebar price to 2,200 riyals ($586) per tonne ex-works, Metal Bulletin has learned.