Turkey’s flats producers, including hot rolled coil (HRC) suppliers and re-rolling companies, have been trying to raise their offers, given the higher import scrap prices in the latest transactions. In addition, Chinese sellers have been bullish since the end of last week, which has also contributed to the upward sentiment in Turkey since there are hardly any other firm import offers at the moment.
Import HRC offers from China to Turkey have been reported at $580-587/mt CFR for December shipments, up from $577-580/mt CFR, voiced at the end of last week. Some sources expect there may be some additional bookings from Turkey by those who were earlier expecting the prices to roll back. No solid offers from other suppliers have been reported yet in Turkey, though some from South Korea and Japan are expected.
In the Turkish domestic market, most suppliers are offering at $650/mt ex-works base for December production, while one of the suppliers has voiced $660-670/mt ex-works, though admitting it was negotiable. Last week, the levels of $620-630/mt ex-works were considered workable, while currently the lowest end is evaluated at $640/mt ex-works, at least for now.
As regards exports, some mills have started officially offering at $600-610/mt FOB, up by around $20/mt. “I think it will be hard for Turkish mills to increase prices much, because the reality is there is not enough demand,” a source told SteelOrbis.
Turkish re-rolling companies have also made an attempt to increase their product prices. In fact, following some sales, local cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have risen by $15-20/mt to $730-750/mt ex-works in the official offers. Offers for pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI) have moved up by $10/mt on the lower end over the past week to $900-930/mt ex-works. The situation for HDG is a bit more challenging: offers have narrowed down from $770-810/mt to $780-800/mt ex-works, while most re-rollers admit nothing above $800/mt ex-works is workable in the local market.