While demand and overall trade in Turkey’s HRC market has not shown much improvement since mid-January, some price levels have started to increase. In particular, offers from China have risen, most probably following some sales to several markets, including Turkey, and also before the holiday period. However, most market players are not so optimistic about this uptrend being a long-term one since demand generally is not so supportive.
Currently, the highest price for cargoes of 45,000-50,000 mt of Q195 HRC from China is at $502/mt CFR, versus $484/mt CFR at the end of last week. In addition, the offers from second-tier mills are now evaluated at around $495/mt CFR. The cargoes are for March shipments. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, two deals were discussed in the market at $485/mt and $490/mt CFR, respectively, closed in the middle of January. However, many have preferred to restock from Egypt ($552/mt CFR) and Russia ($510/mt CFR) during the past 10-12 days. “China will be on holiday from the end of January, while this week may still be rather active for HRC purchases if the price is right,” a source said.
In Turkey’s domestic market, most market players still assess workable HRC price levels at $550-560/mt ex-works/CFR Marmara, while some report that mills are now targeting $565-580/mt for March deliveries. “It could be successful if there is support from demand and, while locally sales are more or less flowing [for HRC], as regards exports the situation is much more challenging,” a trader told SteelOrbis. The official export offer level for Turkish HRC stands at $530-540/mt FOB, but the reality is still closer to $520-525/mt FOB, while some bids for serious tonnages are even lower than that.