Turkey’s re-rolling flat steel companies have been trying to pull up their prices for coated and cold-rolled coils, following the pre-holiday upward moves made by local hot-rolled coil (HRC) suppliers. However, according to the most recent developments, the collapse in China has created a negative mood in the flat steel market globally and in Turkey specifically. Although the local mills have so far kept their HRC prices relatively stable, partly due to the better mood in the EU, HRC import offers have dropped quite significantly. As a result, coated and CRC buyers have been hesitating to purchase nowadays. Another factor is the unclear situation in the import scrap segment where the positive pre-holiday expectations seem to have failed to materialize.
This week, according to sources, Turkey’s domestic HDG prices are at around $820-840/mt ex-works base while only some re-rollers are offering prices $10-20/mt higher. Local CRC offers are at around the same level with the highest price reported at $850/mt ex-works base for now. In the PPGI segment, Turkish sellers are offering at $980-990/mt ex-works base, $10/mt down from the lower end over two weeks. “People are trying to push up prices but still the demand is low,” a producer told SteelOrbis.