Iskenderun Demir Celik (Isdemir), a subsidiary of Turkey's biggest steel producing group Erdemir Group, has started planned maintenance at its blast furnace no 2.
The maintenance will last 44 days starting from Tuesday November 24 and is not expected to have a major effect on the company's output, Isdemir said.
Isdemir produces steel billet, slab, wire rod and hot-rolled coil at its facility in Iskenderun, southern Turkey. The company has four blast furnaces with a total production capacity of 5.3 million tonnes per year.
Despite Isdemir's assurances on the minimal impact on output, some market participants in Turkey believe there may be a shortage for wire rod in Turkey as a result of the maintenance works because Isdemir is one of the biggest suppliers of the product in Turkey.
Prices for both
Turkish wire rod and
HRC have been increasing sharply in line with strong demand.
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for
steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, exw Turkey was 5,450-5,500 lira ($686-699) per tonne on November 19, narrowing upward from 5,300-5,500 lira per tonne on November 12.
Some market participants have reported current prices for the product at around 5,600-5,650 lira per tonne ex-works.
Strong demand for Turkish HRC both domestically and in its export markets has caused prices for the product to also increase.
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for
steel HRC, domestic, exw Turkey was $630-640 per tonne on November 20, rising from $575-585 per tonne on November 13.
Sources told Fastmarkets that market prices since the latest published assessment are at around $700-710 per tonne ex-works.
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