Egyptian hot rolled coil (HRC) importers have started to receive fresh offers for June shipments this week. However, their bids remain low as the market is still unstable due to the impact of Covid-19 on industrial business activities.
Turkey’s HRC offers to Egypt have been voiced at around $405-410/mt CFR, mainly from Izmir and Iskenderun region-based suppliers. In the meantime, Russian mills, which have just started to announce offers for their new round of sales, are targeting $390-400/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned. Offers from Ukraine have been reported $10/mt lower than that or at $380-390/mt CFR.
No fresh deals are reported as being closed to Egypt as buyers there prefer to take their time in order to evaluate the market. Bids are voiced at $370-385/mt CFR for now. “The market here [in the Mediterranean] is dull and even in the previous round CIS mills had to dump good volumes to Asia and Turkey hardly accepted anything far above $380-385/mt CFR. There is no improvement on the consumption side, so prices are not likely to increase,” a buyer in Egypt said.
In the previous round, ex-CIS lots were traded to Egypt at $380-385/mt CFR, and were traded from Turkey at $405-410/mt CFR. In addition, an ex-France lot was sold at $430/mt CFR effective, as SteelOrbis reported earlier.
