Given some slowdown in the import scrap price uptrend in Turkey and as demand for flats has been lagging behind mills’ targets somewhat, offers for hot-rolled coil (HRC) have stabilized early in the current week. Still, producers report that small volumes have already been sold locally at the higher price levels, while in the import segment no new deals have been heard yet.
In the domestic market, four Turkish producers are in the market to offer, including the newly started production at the project in the Iskenderun region. Most of the offers are at $700-710/mt ex-works, in line with the previous week and for March deliveries mainly, while material for February deliveries is available at up to $740/mt ex-works. Some of the market players report deals at up to $690-705/mt ex-works for small volumes, up from $680/mt ex-works previously workable. Export offers from Turkey have settled at $660-670/mt FOB and above for now.
In the import segment, China is offering at $605-610/mt CFR for Q195 material, which is $5/mt below the offers seen at the end of last week. Some of the suppliers are offering at $620/mt CFR for the same quality. No new deals for Chinese material have been reported, following the earlier concluded deals for up to 100,000 mt. Along with China, there are offers from India. One Indian mill is offering at slightly below $660/mt CFR, while the others are at $690/mt CFR, which is definitely not workable now. Egypt is taking its time to offer to Turkey after sizeable sales closed to Europe. Its expected level is at around $690/mt CFR for end-of-February shipments.
