Notwithstanding Turkey's persisting economic challenges and the limited amount of business in both its domestic and export markets, Turkish pipe producers have decided to maintain their previous week's prices, mainly due to some stabilization in the hot rolled coil (HRC) segment during the past week due to improvements in the scrap market. While the majority of producers believe that prices will remain stable or gradually increase in the short term, others believe that demand is the most important factor in the market and that it will likely remain sluggish in the near future.
Over the past week, prices in the local hollow section market have remained stable at $720-750/mt ex-works. Nonetheless, according to insiders, even though selling at these prices is impracticable, a few smaller pipe suppliers are still attempting to sell at $770-800/mt ex-works.
Meanwhile, in the export market, since trade has been extremely slow, the outlook has remained pessimistic. As a result, most pipe producers have decided to keep their offers at $730-770/mt FOB, unchanged from last week. Likewise, according to sources, the larger pipe suppliers have continued to offer at around $690/mt FOB.