Turkish and CIS-based hot rolled coil (HRC) suppliers have provided discounts in negotiations since early last week in order to conclude some deals. However, most of them believe the market will firm up shortly, taking into account strong scrap prices and the fact that the CIS is pretty much sold out for March production and is in no rush to announce prices for April.
In the local market in Turkey, HRC is available at $750-760/mt ex-works, the majority of sources agree, while earlier last week most official offers were at $770/mt ex-works and above. In the export segment, even lower levels have been available. Sources report some deals to the EU have been closed at $710-720/mt FOB in some special negotiations and even below. In addition, a total of around 40,000 mt of HRC have reportedly been sold to the US and afterwards the official offers have returned to $745-750/mt FOB. Currently, Turkish mills are in the market to sell for May shipments.
In the import segment, CIS-based mills have been active in sales for March production, but have been forced to decrease their prices while negotiating. One of the producers traded a total of 50,000-60,000 mt last week and early this week it traded at $715-725/mt CFR for big coils, while earlier the offer was $5-15/mt higher. Currently, the supplier is back to $730/mt CFR in offers, but already for April production HRC. Another HRC supplier from the CIS, according to sources, has been trading small coils at around $700-705/mt CFR Turkey and big coils at $715/mt CFR. The information has not been confirmed by the seller by the time of publication. In the meantime, the producer is expected to target higher levels for the remaining volumes for March production, if any are available.