Ex-CIS hot rolled coil (HRC) exporters have sizeably dropped their prices to Turkey, trying to bag some orders in a weak market. As a result, the sellers closed deals for November production by at least $15-20/mt lower as compared to the initially offered price earlier this month.
Ukraine’s Metinvest International S.A. has recently sold a large HRC volume (over 30,000 mt) for November production to Turkey with the small coils (16 mt) traded at $377-380/mt CFR and big ones (27 mt) at $385-390/mt CFR. It is worth mentioning that earlier the producer did not differentiate the HRC by the weight; the production of the big coils will be started at the Ilyich SW on November 5, SteelOrbis has learnt.
Russia’s MMK, according to the sources, has closed deals for up to 10,000 mt of big coils at $395/mt CFR Turkey, while 10,000 mt of small coils were reportedly marketed closer to $380/mt CFR Turkey. Most recent transactions of NLMK were made at around $405/mt CFR; the producer continues negotiations with bids coming at around $390-395/mt CFR, sources say.
In the meantime, locally Turkish HRC is mainly offered at $420/mt ex-works with some $410/mt ex-works being reportedly in discussion. On exports $410-415/mt FOB and above is available with discounts as well possible, SteelOrbis understands. Foreign demand remains quiet; however, some big European buyers might be back to the market by the end of the month.