The expectations of a further price increase in the local Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) market resulting from the rises seen in global raw material and flat steel quotations over the past week have caused Turkish buyers to accelerate their purchases, causing demand to continue its recovery. Meanwhile, Turkish steel mills have kept their HRC offers stable week on week at $490-520/mt ex-works, while continuing to fill their order books.
Market sources expect Turkish mills to increase their domestic HRC prices in the short term as the mills are happy with their current sales. However, market sources also indicate that most buyers in the local Turkish HRC market are about to complete their purchases and that this revival in demand is not sustainable in the long run.
It is observed that Turkish HRC buyers are unwilling to rush their purchases before gaining a clearer picture of the trend of Chinese HRC export quotations after the Chinese New Year holiday (February 2-10), and so demand in the local Turkish HRC market is expected to fall slightly.
Meanwhile, demand in the Turkish spot market is lower as compared to the demand for domestic HRC on ex-works basis. It is observed that sellers are trying to avoid credit sales while increasing their sales for cash. Lastly, Turkish traders’ spot HRC offers have moved sideways over the past week.
Product |
Price ($/mt) |
|
Eregli |
Gebze |
|
2-12 mm HRC |
520-530 |
530-540 |
1.5 mm HRS |
560-570 |
575-595 |
2-12 mm HRC (for large tonnages) |
|
510-520 |
3-12 mm HR P&O |
550-560 |
590-600 |