The flats market of Turkey has been quite active this week in terms of selling and buying since the suppliers, including the hot-rolled coil (HRC) producers and the re-rollers have been received decent demand from the local market. Most of it is earthquake-related, taking into account the high requirements in terms of building container housing units, supply of energy generation facilities and repair of the damaged systems, etc. Therefore, some decent flats requirements are already on the table, especially for thick materials and for shorter lead times. However, there is a clear understanding in the market that bigger demand is yet to come. As a result, a lot of companies prefer to restock now in order not to be empty-handed later, including the re-rollers, pipe-makers and even white goods producers. Another factor behind the restocking these days is the reported scarcity of HRC supply in the market, given the low number of import offers and despite insufficient exports.
Currently, most of the Turkish mills are there to sell HRC for May production and are officially at $850/mt ex-works. Some of them, however, are said to be accepting orders for June. According to sources, some sales have already been done at the new level, while earlier the transactions were at $810-830/mt ex-works and slightly higher. The export offers are indicative at $850/mt FOB, which is not workable for a majority of buyers. In the import segment, there are offers from China for SAE1006 quality at $730-740/mt CFR, while some bids have been reported at $700/mt CFR. It is worth mentioning that there are active rumors that Turkey may postpone the imposition of the increased import taxes for HRC, which were expected to come into force from March 1, for 3-6 months. In that case, it might normalize the competition in the Turkish market and will ensure the required supply, especially in terms of re-rolling grades.
In the coated steel segment, the current HDG base prices are at $1,080-1,120/mt ex-works, in line with the beginning of the week. The situation in the PPGI market is similar – the offers are relative stable at $1,280-1,300/mt ex-works, though some offers have been reported $20/mt higher. The current tinplate prices are at $1,320-1,330/mt ex-works, $60-70/mt above the pre-earthquake levels.
The domestic cold-rolled coil (CRC) prices in Turkey are at $940-990/mt ex-works depending on the mill and the consuming segment, having increased by $10-50/mt over the week. In the import segment, there were deals last week from Russia at $800-805/mt FOB Black Sea, while the most recent offers have been reported at around $820/mt FOB. The freight is estimated at around $25-30/mt.
