Hopes for better demand delayed to April in Turkish HRC market

During March, the Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) market has been characterized by poor demand and as a result has witnessed a softening in traders' prices. Traders have placed few HRC orders with producers, as spot market prices have remained almost at the same levels as producers' asking prices, as well as due to their poor sales performance.
 
Having placed HRC orders last month for February and Match rolling, buyers in the Turkish market have not placed many orders this month for April and May production, due to the rapid increase in producers' prices and lower than expected demand levels. Turkish flat steel producers believe that local traders will soon commence their HRC bookings as their inventories are currently low. On the other hand, traders polled by SteelOrbis state that they expect producers' HRC prices to move down and that, even if prices do not drop below $700/mt ex-works, they will have to start concluding new bookings.
 
SteelOrbis has learned from market sources that local producers Erdemir and Colakoglu Metalurji are currently offering HRC to their domestic market at $700/mt ex-works for May and June production, and that they are not offering any discounts.
 
HRC market prices in the Turkish domestic market are expected to gain clarity next week. Given the increases seen in oil and scrap prices and the flat trend in iron ore prices, producers' input costs have not shown any decreases and HRC demand is still below expectations. Turkish steel producers are hoping to maintain their HRC prices at $700/mt ex-works at the lowest. However, demand will be the determining factor for price trends in April.