The current week seems to be quiet in terms of trading activity in Turkey’s hot rolled coil (HRC) market since end-user demand is insufficient and buyers’ stocks are quite high following the previous purchases. In addition, ex-China HRC offers have fallen even more this week, bringing some confusion to the market since the other import offers are far higher. Similarly, domestic mills are also trying to avoid large discounts and to maintain their offers far above $800/mt ex-works.
Currently, domestic HRC offers in Turkey are at $830-850/mt ex-works, down $10/mt on the upper end over the past week. “They [mills] are in June mainly and I think they are waiting for China to finish its aggressive sales round and for things to get back to normal,” a trader commented. Another issue is that the market awaits postponed demand for flat steel to pop up in May and June, following the elections.
In the import segment, ex-China HRC offers are now at $675-685/mt CFR for Q195 grade, $15/mt down over the week. The prices for SAE1006 material decreased by around $10/mt over the same period to $710-715/mt CFR, sources report. Although Chinese offers are quite low, no fresh deals have been reported to Turkey. “Everybody [buyers] is waiting in general and they booked a lot of material earlier. There are too many cargoes coming, while sales and demand [in Turkey] are currently low,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
The aggressive Chinese pricing is also blocking the sales of HRC of other origins into Turkey. The closest offer is from Russia at around $730-740/mt CFR from one of the mills, versus $765/mt CFR last week. In addition, there has been a rumour about 20,000-25,000 mt of HRC sold from India at $730/mt CFR. However, most of the sources consider it false information. “It is too low for Indian mills for base grades, but still high for Turkey if you consider Chinese offers,” a source said. Last week, ex-India HRC offers stood at $770/mt CFR minimum, while South Korea and Egypt were at $800/mt CFR and $850/mt CFR, respectively.