Ex-China HRC and CRC offers put pressure on Turkish import market

Due to sluggish demand, prices have been generally trending sideways in the Turkish flat steel import market. Apart some small activity, demand has failed to reach the anticipated level, even though demand and buying activities in the import market had been expected to recover in September. In particular, Chinese export offers at low prices have been confusing buyers in the international markets and have also weakened demand for ex-CIS flat steel products. Therefore, ex-CIS offers, which are expected to be announced in the coming period, may indicate a softening.   
 
Meanwhile, Ukrainian mills' hot rolled coil (HRC) offers to the Turkish market are still standing at $562-565/mt CFR, while their cold rolled coil (CRC) offers are at $665-680/mt CFR. In the meantime, Russian mills' HRC offers to Turkey have indicated a slight decline since last week to $600-605/mt CFR, while their CRC offers are still at the price range of $680-720/mt CFR.