According to market sources, demand received by domestic traders in the local Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) spot market is still weak, while traders’ prices have remained unchanged over the past week. Market sources state that buyers have slowed down their purchases significantly due to Ramadan and the ongoing political uncertainty in Turkey, adding that no recovery of demand is expected until September.
On the other hand, demand for HRC received by domestic producers is also weak, while buyers are still exerting pressure on producers to lower their prices. Yet, Turkish producers’ HRC prices in their domestic market have also remained unchanged over the past week at $420-440/mt ex-works for August production.
The domestic sales prices of traders for local and imported hot rolled flat steel products in the Eregli and Gebze regions of Turkey are as follows:
| Product | Price ($/mt) | |
| Eregli | Gebze | |
| 2-12 mm HRC | 450-460 | 455-465 |
| 1.5 mm HRS | 480-490 | 485-495 |
| 2-12 mm HRC (for large volume sales) |
| 440-450 |
| 3-12 mm HR P&O | 500-510 | 515-520 |
The above prices are ex-warehouse and for advance payments, exclusive of 18 percent VAT.