According to market sources, demand in the Turkish flat steel export market has nearly come to a halt compared to last week. Due to very attractive Russian and Ukrainian hot rolled coil (HRC) offers, Turkish producers have been forced to reduce their offer prices for the export markets.
Russian and Ukrainian HRC list prices to foreign markets are currently at $460/mt CFR and $450/mt CFR, respectively. According to the latest deals concluded in Turkey yesterday, January 22, ex-Russia HRC prices were at $435/mt CFR, while ex-Ukrainian deals were concluded at $425/mt CFR. Meanwhile, Turkish producers' HRC export prices have declined by $20/mt to $480-490/mt FOB since last week. However, an Italian buyer's counter-offer was very low in the range of $380-390/mt CFR. Market sources state that Turkish producers are unwilling to reduce their prices to these levels, while they have preferred to focus on North African markets such as Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
On the other hand, Turkish cold rolled coil (CRC) export activity has been quieter compared to Turkish HRC export activity. Market sources report that buying interest in Turkish CRC exports has decreased due to declining HRC prices. Turkish producers' CRC offers to the foreign markets have also been reduced, following the decline in HRC export prices, to the range of $580-590/mt FOB, declining by $20/m over the past week.
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