HRC prices indicate softening in Turkish flat steel spot market

Demand has remained stagnant in the Turkish flat steel spot market and traders' cold rolled coil (CRC) and hot rolled pickled and oiled (HR P&O) prices have remained stable over the past week, while hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have declined by $5-10/mt. This is the third time traders' HRC prices have seen decreases since mid-February, with the total reduction in prices reaching $45/mt.
 
The gap between quotations of mills and those of traders has widened after the latest fall in spot market prices. Accordingly, Turkish steelmakers' HRC offers are ranging at $615-625/mt ex-works, while traders are offering HRC to the domestic market at $600-615/mt ex-warehouse.
 
With the influence of the softening in iron ore prices, producers are expected to stop offering resistance and to reduce their prices, with the gap between the quotations of mills and traders thus anticipated to disappear or contract, though buyers will first have to start purchasing before prices indicate a recovery. Meanwhile, low availability issues continue to be seen in the market and buyers will likely delay purchase for a while in order to see softer prices.
 
The domestic sales prices of traders for local and imported hot and cold rolled flat steel products in the Eregli and Gebze regions of Turkey are as follows:
 

Product	Price ($/mt)
	Eregli	Gebze
2-12 mm HRC	600-610	605-615
1.5 mm HRS	645-650	650-660
3-12 mm HR P&O	680-690	680-690
0.6 mm CRC	780-790	785-790
0.7-2 mm CRC	750-760	750-760

The above prices are ex-warehouse and for advance payments, exclusive of 18 percent VAT.