In the Turkish flat steel market, the new week has started with price increases for the main flat products, with coated and CR steel suppliers mainly following climbing HRC prices. Overall, the main reason for the general uptrend is the war in the Middle East. The freight rates, especially for the long routes and particularly those from Asia to Turkey, have indicated another increase and continue fluctuating. As a result, traders are refraining from indicating firm offers, specifically for ex-China HRC, which creates concerns. “Fuel is up, scrap is firm and even up in some offers due to higher freight rates and, if there are risks buying from Asia, it is logical for Turkish mills to increase their prices,” a local source told SteelOrbis.
The number of import offers is currently scarce since some suppliers cannot give a solid indication due to the situation with freight rates, while others are aiming to see the market situation in the coming two to three days. Earlier on Monday, March 9, offers for Q195 HRC from China stood at $535/mt CFR, while some traders have preferred not to offer. Last week, ex-China HRC stood at $510-515/mt CFR for the same grade. By the end of Monday, several sources reported prices from China should not be lower than $545/mt CFR. Freight indications are gone. Some shipowners are not even offering freight rates,” a source told SteelOrbis. According to some market players, rates for full cargoes from China to Turkey are at $50-55/mt and up to $60/mt and may still be rising, and so suppliers cannot really give a firm CFR-based offer.
In this general situation, Turkish buyers might turn to purchases from Russia, though these origins are not firmly offered, sources report. Russian mills will be back tomorrow from a short holiday and, according to expectations, are going to increase prices by at least $5-10/mt from last week’s $525/mt CFR. Several buyers have shared expectations for ex-Egypt HRC to be offered at $600/mt CFR.
In the Turkish domestic market, mills are mainly offering at $590-620/mt ex-works for May deliveries of HRC, up by $5-10/mt since the end of last week. HRC export offers from Turkey for May shipments have now settled at $590-610/mt FOB, again up $5-10/mt over the past week. Still, many local buyers believe these levels are not workable and are rather a reflection of the expectations in the market than being demand-driven.
In the coated segment, Turkish re-rollers are now mainly offering base HDG material at $800-805/mt ex-works, up from $780-785/mt ex-works official levels available last week. Still, levels of around $780/mt ex-works might be workable as some suppliers are giving a two percent discount. In the PPGI segment, the new offers are at $900-930/mt ex-works, up by $10-20/mt from the highest offers last week. No firm range of CRC local prices has been seen just yet, while some re-rollers have voiced $680-700/mt ex-works, versus $660-690/mt ex-works seen last week.
