Turkey’s steel slab buyers, who have been enjoying a positive hot rolled coil (HRC) market locally and abroad, have accepted the price increase in the import slab deals closed last week. Currently, the suppliers from the CIS have been aiming to hit even higher levels, taking into account the increased difference with HRC prices.
According to sources, last week at least three deals for steel slabs, 25,000-30,000 mt each, were sold to Turkey by three different producers within $820-825/mt CFR. The cargoes will be shipped in June and the transaction prices indicate increases of around $40/mt since the previous negotiations. Moreover, this week some suppliers have been aiming to sell at $860-880/mt CFR, seeing that the prices for HRC in Turkey have already hit $1,000/mt ex-works on average, SteelOrbis has learned. “It seems the slab is underpriced according to HRC, since the rolling cost is around $60-70/mt tops for commercial qualities. In addition, the current slab offers are for June shipments, while Turkey is selling HRC for August now,” a local source said.
With freight estimated at around $25-30/mt, the FOB Black Sea price from the CIS to Turkey is at $835-850/mt, up by $40-55/mt over the past week. Some sources said that $830-835/mt FOB levels are achievable in the EU and some lots may be traded to Latin America shortly.