The hot rolled coil (HRC) market in Turkey has seen another weakening of sentiments this week since domestic end-user demand has failed to improve and particularly exports have been rather slow. Still, some buyers who needed to restock, have shown a certain interest in imports since early last week.
The domestic HRC prices for January deliveries have slipped to $595-605/mt ex-works base in terms of realistic initial offers and the workable levels for 20,000-30,000 mt lots are considered at $580-590/mt ex-works. As for exports, the level is at $560-575/mt FOB officially with some slightly higher prices, but also lower offers voiced for non-EU destinations. In North Africa, particularly Egypt, ex-Turkey offers have been heard at $570/mt CFR with minimum $20-23/mt freight from the southern regions of Turkey. However, in North Africa there are some rather aggressive import offers from Russia at $500-510/mt CFR seen recently, with a 15,000 mt lot sold at $510/mt CFR at the end of the past week.
Russian mills taking into account a favorably low local currency exchange rate have also been active in terms of negotiations with Turkey. Some buyers who had been delaying restocking for a while, have recently chosen to book from Russia and a non-sanctioned mill, according to sources, has succeeded in selling close to 50,000 mt of December production HRC at $530-535/mt CFR. A sanctioned Russian producer has been trying to sell at around $500/mt CFR, sources reported, but the buyers’ price ideas do not seem to be above $480-490/mt CFR.
As for China, Q195 3 mm and up offers have been reported at $515-520/mt CFR as of November 26, down from $525-529/mt CFR a day earlier. The shipment term is January which is considered to be for early March arrival. Therefore, many buyers are hesitating to book despite, as mentioned earlier, there being is a certain necessity to restock. It is worth mentioning that some traders are still offering $525/mt CFR levels, while everything lower than $520/mt CFR is considered to be a non-VAT indication. The latest talk about deals from China has been heard at $513-516/mt CFR depending on the seller and the discharging port.
Egypt is currently out of the export market, being focused on domestic sales. The latest deals to Turkey for medium-sized lots were closed a couple of weeks back at $610/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has reported.
