The import and local hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the Turkish market have slid since the end of last week, amid the currently prevailing negative sentiment. The scrap prices are set to fall further, according to many market sources, while demand for HRC from local and foreign customers is not that sufficient and the sales of Turkish material for August production have barely started. As a result, although in the import segment in Turkey only India and Russia are present at the moment, the pressure has increased and the suppliers have had to drop their offers and, most probably, the trend will continue. The downturn, seen in Asia and particularly China since the end of last week, has added pressure and weakened market sentiment.
HRC offers from Russia to Turkey are at $680-700/mt CFR from MMK and at $700-720/mt CFR from NLMK, sources report. Severstal, according to sources, has received bids at $700/mt CFR maximum, while the mill’s initial targets were a bit higher. Early last week, the indications stood closer to $730/mt CFR, while $700/mt CFR would not have been declined by sellers at that time. However, most local sources believe that in order to sell Russian mills have to go to around $650/mt CFR. Import offers from India are at $740-750/mt CFR Turkey nowadays, down $20-30/mt over the week, SteelObis has learned.
In the domestic market in Turkey, the mills’ positions are rather weak due to low demand, high stocks, and the negative sentiment, triggered by falling scrap prices and the downtrend in China. The market players report that sales of August production have barely started, which signals low business activity. In addition, exports have been slow from Turkey since the EU market witnessed a price decline over the past several weeks and, in general, the trade is slow due to the approaching summer holiday season. As a result, some mills decided to stay officially at $770-780/mt ex-works base price levels, while some have gone down to $730-750/mt ex-works. The level of $720/mt has also been discussed in the market but was not confirmed by the time of publication.
