Foreign hot rolled coil (HRC) suppliers have remained active in their offers to Turkey, while some of them have been aiming to increase their prices compared to the levels seen early last week. Turkish buyers, however, have mainly been resisting and therefore only minor lots have been booked.
Russia’s MMK has been targeting to sell at $380/mt CFR Turkey for big coils since late last week, versus $365/mt CFR and slightly above sealed in deals earlier this month. According to sources, the producer has traded around 40,000 mt of HRC to Turkey by now; buyers say bids $5/mt lower than the current offer may be workable. NLMK has hiked its offers by $10-15/mt over the past week to $390/mt CFR for July shipments, while earlier its transactions were closed in the range of $375-380/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned. Severstal, as SteelOrbis reported, sold 30,000-35,000 mt of HRC to Turkey last week at around $375/mt CFR. Ukraine’s Metinvest insists on $365/mt CFR in offers for small coils and $375-380/mt CFR for big ones, while small lots have been traded this week at similar levels, sources report.
European suppliers have been offering for July shipments to Turkey at $390-400/mt CFR, while levels $5/mt lower have been also reported in the market. “It is unbelievable. The same day the EU announces antidumping against Turkey, there are offers to us from European mills,” a trader said.
Turkey’s offers for HRC remain relatively stable at $395-405/mt ex-works in the local market and at $390-405/mt FOB for exports. Some mills claim they are already sold out for June production. “Scrap stabilized, so there is hardly any ground for another hike for HRC. Everyone is watching how it’s going to go,” a source said.