Turkish re-rollers have provided discounts for cold rolled coil (CRC) in their local market as the earlier announced higher levels were not accepted by customers. In the meantime, the import segment is quiet for now as CIS-based mills are only getting ready to announce their offers for March.
Domestic CRC prices in Turkey have decreased by $20-30/mt since the end of December to a rather wide range of offers. The lowest official ones are reported at $560-570/mt ex-works, while some sellers are quoting at $575-590/mt ex-works. Most suppliers are offering CRC locally for February deliveries, while some are trying to sell for March. In the meantime, a couple of re-rollers, according to sources, are in the market to sell for January deliveries as they have rather high stocks.
A similar decline has been seen in the hot dip galvanized market in Turkey, which, together with weaker CRC levels, is not considered to be a very good sign for hot rolled coil suppliers. “It means that the increase in feedstock was not reflected in cold rolled and coated. So if the EU doesn’t improve and doesn’t restart importing, the HRC pricing might be under pressure,” a source said.
In the import segment, CIS-based mills are out of the market for now, having closed their sales for February production. Ukraine’s Metinvest lastly sold to Turkey at $555/mt CFR thought most of the February tonnage was sold at $540-545/mt CFR, as reported earlier. Russia’s NLMK is also taking time to announce new offers, while its latest sales to Turkey’s consuming industries were closed at up to $565/mt CFR. In the meantime, South Korea is in the market with $590/mt CFR offers for March shipments, SteelOrbis has learned.