China has returned to the market from its long holiday with new hot rolled coil (HRC) offers, but the market conditions have not allowed suppliers to increase prices, particularly for the Turkish market. Ex-China offers have remained at the pre-holiday levels and for now traders are reporting that there is no interest seen from Turkey in purchases. In the meantime, domestic HRC offers in Turkey have also remained relatively stable. A few negotiations are underway while generally demand has remained insufficient.
This week, Chinese HRC is available at $565/mt CFR for November shipments for 40,000 mt lots of Q195 material of 3mm and higher. Smaller lots are mainly available at $570-572/mt CFR and up to $580/mt CFR from some traders. As a result, ex-China prices have not moved much from the pre-holiday level while activity among buyers has remained quiet.
In fact, according to sources, some of them are in negotiations with Turkish mills for medium and large-size purchases. The offers are at $640-650/mt ex-works base and up to $660-670/mt ex-works in some indications. “Buyers can confirm $640-650/mt as the effective price, including extras,” a source told SteelOrbis, adding that the base evaluation in that case would be $610-620/mt ex-works. Local HRC is available for November-December deliveries. Last week, some negotiations were reported at $625/mt ex-works base with a large pipe-maker.
As regards exports, some offers have been reported at $600/mt FOB and up to $620-630/mt FOB, which is more or less in line with last week’s levels.
