The cautious optimism seen in Turkey’s hot-rolled coil (HRC) market last week has ended for now, partly due to still aggressive imports, particularly from Russia. Being unable to sell in large volumes to other destinations, Russia-based mills have been trying to negotiate with Turkish buyers, who are among the few ready to deal for Russian origin products despite the risks.
According to sources, this week ex-Russia HRC has been available in Turkey at $740-750/mt CFR for June production. Recently, Severstal has closed deals for a total of 30,000-35,000 mt to Turkish customers at $740-745/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned. Previously, as was reported earlier, NLMK sold 75,000 mt of HRC to Turkey at up to $750/mt CFR, though lower bookings were also heard. “There are volumes to be sold still, so I think Russia will still try to negotiate,” a source said.
Aside from Russia, offers from India are also at quite aggressive levels. One of the Indian mills is reportedly offering at $770/mt CFR for July shipments and at $800/mt CFR for June. “The export duty issue in India is still unclear, but it seems there is not much effect for now. If they [India] need to sell, they will sell,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
In the local market in Turkey, HRC is available at $800-840/mt ex-works officially, the same as earlier this week. Although mills sold some cargoes to the domestic and export markets previously, July production volumes are still available, sources report. Moreover, some of the sources report that $780-790/mt ex-works levels are considered workable by some mills.
