During the past two weeks, demand for domestic producers’ products in the local Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) market has recovered slightly, but is still at weak levels. Following the Feast of Sacrifice holiday (Sept. 12-15), Turkish HRC producers’ prices have increased their prices by $12.5/mt on average to $430-450/mt ex-works.
Meanwhile, buyers have increased their inquiries for domestic HRC in the Turkish spot market, though the improvement in trading activity is still not as good after the holiday as had been expected. In line with the uptrend of producers’ prices, traders in the Eregli region have increased their HRC prices by $10/mt on the lower end during the past two weeks. However, traders in the Gebze region have maintained their price levels unchanged over the same period.
The domestic sales prices of traders for local and imported hot rolled flat steel products in the Eregli and Gebze regions of Turkey are as follows:
| Product | Price ($/mt) |
|
|
| Eregli | Gebze |
| 2-12 mm HRC | 450-460 | 450-470 |
| 1.5 mm HRS | 490-500 | 495-515 |
| 2-12 mm HRC (for large tonnages) | 420-430 | |
| 3-12 mm HR P&O | 490-500 | 500-530 |
The above prices are ex-warehouse and for advance payments, exclusive of 18 percent VAT.