Turkish mills have preferred to keep their local and export HRC offers stable as the new week starts, while demand, especially domestic demand, has remained a bit shaky, particularly due the ongoing political unrest in the country. Suppliers state that most May production volumes are more or less sold out, while buyers believe small and medium-sized lots may be still available. As regards exports, offers are for June shipments, following the recently reported sales, predominantly done to the EU. However, while China has remained stable in terms of offer prices, Egypt has announced a new round of HRC offers with a price increase.
Local HRC prices in Turkey are now at $580-595/mt ex-works/CFR Marmara, and the lower end of the range corresponds to what a mill might accept for a relatively large volume. Some of the buyers, however, have reported offers of up to $600/mt CFR from some mills, the same as at the end of last week. “The demand is not great, but the volumes are also not excessive in terms of available allocation for the required lead time,” a source told SteelOrbis. As for exports, Turkey’s HRC offers are at $575-585/mt FOB, with some negotiations continuing with some European countries.
Import offers from China are also stable, at around $485-495/mt CFR for end of May shipments for Q195 HRC of 3 mm and higher, for 50,000 mt cargoes. No deals have been reported lately. In addition, Egypt has started a new round of trade, proceeding to offers for June shipments at the level of $590/mt CFR. Turkish customers believe $5/mt discounts are possible on the offered price while the latest deals for Egyptian HRC for May shipment were closed at $570/mt CFR, as SteelOrbis reported. No official HRC offers have been heard yet from Russia, while buyers expect the initial targets for non-sanctioned material to be at $515/mt CFR minimum.