Business slow for Turkish coated steel, but prices stable

Business activity in local Turkish coated steel market has remained low for now, mainly since buyers are trying to see a clearer market picture amid falling scrap and hot rolled coil (HRC) prices. However, re-rollers in Turkey have kept their official offers stable over the past week, though some of them are said to have consented to provide discounts of up to $20/mt in the case of some serious orders.

Some market players believe that discounts seen in the scrap and HRC prices have not been reflected completely in coated steel prices, while also there is still pressure on scrap and HRC prices, which is why the downtrend of coated steel prices is not expected to end soon. Others expect strong European prices will support Turkish export prices when the Covid-19 restrictions ease. "Germany promises vaccinations for everybody by the end of this summer and the WHO has already declared that infection numbers have been decreasing in the the last three weeks. European countries have already started to relax their measures and flat steel prices are really strong in Europe. Turkish export prices are acceptable even with the additional taxes. We expect to see better export demand soon and the current price trend will change with strong export demand," one Turkish producer told SteelOrbis. But not everyone in the market is so optimistic. "Lower HRC and scrap prices cause lower coated steel prices and we see that HRC producers are willing to negotiate. It is very negative for us because we know that negotiations only mean prices will decline further and some coated producers have already started to give discounts of up to $20/mt," another producer said.
On the export side, demand has remained low but the outlook is positive this week. Coronavirus-related measures are expected to ease by the end of February and steel demand is foreseen to improve.