The upward mood has continued in the Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) market and mills have decided to increase their prices for the second time this week. The rapid upturn in import scrap offers, coupled with the decent demand for coated and cold rolled steel locally has become the key reason for the optimistic mood.
Domestic HRC prices in Turkey have added $30-40/mt since early this week and are now standing at $920-930/mt ex-works for December production. Moreover, market sources believe the offers are heading towards $950/mt ex-works, which will be seen next week. In the export segment, prices have improved by $30-40/mt as well, but over the past couple of weeks. The latest deals, according to sources, have been closed at $850-870/mt FOB, specifically to North Africa and some European countries. Currently, the export offers are closer to $890-900/mt FOB. However, some exporters report that it will not be easy to deal with the European markets. “Buyers are looking for $830-840/mt FOB and for earlier shipment dates - December 20 to January 10 at the latest, in order to be safe. [Also] currency and freight rates are wrecking everything,” a source told SteelOrbis.
In the import segment, a 10,000 mt sale was closed from Ukraine at around $865/mt CFR for small coils, up by $15/mt as compared to the producer’s target voiced earlier this week. In addition, a Russian mill, according to sources, has closed deals to Turkey at $870/mt CFR. Another Russia-based supplier was voicing $860/mt CFR earlier this week, but then chose to withdraw the offer after selling large volumes to Vietnam.