Despite the ongoing weakness of flat steel demand in Turkey, local traders have increased their domestic prices as the volumes of their higher-priced inventories have risen as a result of the arrival of March shipments, in a market where supply shortages still prevail.
On the other hand, Turkish steel producers have slightly decreased their flat steel prices, and combined with traders' price hikes, traders' flat steel prices are now higher than producers' prices, contrary to the situation last week.
Accordingly, Turkish mills' hot rolled coil (HRC) prices for May shipments are now standing at $610-625/mt ex-works, while traders HRC prices have reached $620-630/mt ex-warehouse, increasing by about $15-20/mt. It is yet to be seen if traders' higher prices will gain acceptance in the marketplace, while it is expected that the flow of higher-priced steel shipments into traders' inventories will continue for a while. On the other hand, traders' cold rolled coil, which had not been affected by price softening due to greater exposure to supply shortages, has registered milder price increases of $5-10/mt since last week.
Market sources state that traders are currently postponing placing new orders, opting to wait and see further developments.
The domestic sales prices of traders for local and imported hot and cold rolled flat steel products in the Eregli and Gebze regions of Turkey are as follows:
Product |
Price ($/mt) |
|
Eregli |
Gebze |
|
2-12 mm HRC |
620-625 |
620-630 |
1.5 mm HRS |
660-670 |
665-680 |
3-12 mm HR P&O |
690-700 |
690-700 |
0.6 mm CRC |
785-795 |
790-795 |
0.7-2 mm CRC |
755-760 |
755-765 |
The above prices are ex-warehouse and for advance payments, exclusive of 18 percent VAT.