Business continues to boom in Turkey’s hot rolled coil (HRC) market, mainly driven by the limited allocation. In the local market, there is no material left for June and there is hardly any left for the first half of July. Moreover, Turkish mills, being largely sold out, have again increased their prices for HRC, thus opening the door to costlier imports.
By the end of the current week, one Turkish mill has started to offer $900-920/mt ex-works, versus $880-890/mt ex-works seen earlier. Moreover, the company has decided to shift the two weeks of maintenance at its hot rolling line from May to June, SteelOrbis has learned. Other suppliers in the local market are now offering at $880-890/mt ex-works, up by around $10/mt since earlier this week.
In the import segment, Russia’s MMK has closed deals for around 30,000 mt of HRC for end-of-June shipment at $850-855/mt CFR and up to 860/mt CFR, while earlier the bids from Turkish customers hardly exceeded $830/mt CFR. The company has a limited allocation for now and is aiming to sell at $865-870/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned. NLMK is out of the market, having sold out earlier at $850/mt CFR. The latest offers from Ukraine’s Metinvest have been reported at $850-860/mt CFR and market sources believe some deals have already been closed within this range.
As reported earlier, Indian suppliers sold a total of over 60,000 mt of HRC to Turkey with the latest deals closed last week at $820-825/mt CFR.