Over the past week, demand in the Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) spot market has been slack, while prices have remained unchanged in the same period. Buyers in the market have stated that they will maintain their wait-and-see stance throughout the end-of-year period as they are not sure how long the current negative demand situation will continue. Some market players believe this negative situation will come to an end only after the first quarter of 2015.
On the other hand, demand received by Turkish producers for their HRC has remained low over the past week. Turkish producers' HRC prices have decreased by $10/mt on the lower end in the same period and are currently in the range of $520-540/mt ex-works, for December and January production. A close watch is being kept for anticipated announcements of Russian and Ukrainian HRC list prices, which last month were at low levels.
The domestic sales prices of traders for local and imported hot rolled flat steel products in the Eregli and Gebze regions of Turkey are as follows:
Product | Price ($/mt) | |
Eregli | Gebze | |
2-12 mm HRC | 560-580 | 565-585 |
2-12 mm HRC (for large volume sales) | 550-570 | |
1.5 mm HRS | 590-610 | 595-615 |
3-12 mm HR P&O | 605-620 | 615-630 |
The above prices are ex-warehouse and for advance payments, exclusive of 18 percent VAT.