Most of the steel plate suppliers to the Turkish market report their sales have been at decent levels recently, taking into account sufficient end-user demand, supported by seasonal factors. However, the trade has been not active enough to allow the suppliers increase their offers, and so most of them have preferred to keep prices stable. A relative stabilization of domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) offers is another supportive factor.
The Turkish producer Erdemir, which had been not active in the market for a couple of weeks following production problems in the Iskenderun region, has been selling plate for May production lately at $1,000-1,030/mt ex-works for base grades. According to sources, the producer is about to be sold out for May production. In the retail segment, traders have been offering basic grades at $1,150-1,180/mt ex-warehouse.
In the import segment, both Bulgaria and Romania are offering for end-of-May shipments and both are at $1,050/mt CFR, which is considered workable. Some sources report that South Korean suppliers were in the market with $910-920/mt CFR offers for St37 grade and around $950-960/mt CFR for St52 grade, following sales at around $900/mt CFR for the base grade. The current offers are for May and June shipments. The most aggressive plate offers are coming from China at $850-860/mt CFR for St37 grade, SteelOrbis has learned.