Flat steel import offers for Turkey rise, domestic prices remain stable

In this week's Turkish flat steel market, import offers from Russian steelmakers have started to be heard. Accordingly, a major Russian steelmaker is offering March production hot rolled coils (HRC) to Turkey at $850/mt CFR, while its cold rolled coil (CRC) offers are at $950/mt CFR. Despite the price increase in flat steel offers from Russia to Turkey, domestic flat steel prices have remained unchanged in Turkey. On the other hand, market sources indicate that the softening or decline in scrap prices which has been observed this week may ease the cost pressure on Turkish flat steel producers to some extent. However, regardless of the reduced raw material costs and the increased flat steel import price offers, the most decisive factor in the current Turkish flat steel market is demand. Since manufacturers/end-users had already concluded significant bookings in the period when flat steel prices were following a rising trend, these consumers are not active in the flat steel market now.
  
In the past week, Turkish flat steel producers have kept their domestic offers at their previous levels. Accordingly, SteelOrbis has learned from market sources that the Turkish integrated steelmaker Erdemir's HRC offers stand at the base price level of $850/mt ex-works, while its 1-1.5 mm CRC offers are at $960-970/mt ex-works. In the meantime, another Turkish steelmaker Çolakoğlu Metalürji has maintained its HRC base price at $830/mt ex-works.
 
In previous weeks, weakened demand had caused a price softening in the flat steel spot market. However, this week traders' local flat sales prices have generally remained unchanged. Nevertheless, spot HRC prices have showed a slight softening in the past week. SteelOrbis has learned that, due to the limited market inventory for thin cold rolled materials, price of these products are more resistant. In this week's Turkish domestic spot market, 2 mm HRC offers have been at $780-800/mt, while 1-1.5 mm CRC offers have been at $920-950/mt, both ex-warehouse.