Turkish buyers delay flat steel purchases as they await new import offers

Flat steel import activity in Turkey has made a quiet start to the New Year. New import offers have not yet been announced, as Turkey's main sources of flat steel imports are still enjoying their New Year holidays. However, European, Russian and Ukrainian market players are expected to return to the market with new offers in the next two weeks. Meanwhile, Turkish buyers currently hesitate to conclude deals in the domestic market before seeing the new import offer levels and this has prevented local demand from registering an improvement.
 
Even though new import flat steel offers have not been heard, the latest import offers were at the following levels:  ex-Romania hot rolled coil (HRC) offers to Turkey were ranging at $575-585/mt CFR, while Ukrainian offers to Turkey were at $545-550/mt CFR and ex-Russia HRC offers stood at $570-605/mt CFR.
 
On the other hand, import cold rolled coil (CRC) offers to Turkey were as follows: Ukrainian CRC offers were at levels of $630-640/mt CFR. In the meantime, Russian CRC offers for 0.51 mm and above thickness were standing at $690/mt CFR, while Russian CRC offers for thicknesses below 0.51 mm ranged at $720-725/mt CFR. In addition, Romanian CRC offers were at $670-680/mt CFR.