Sentiment has worsened in Turkey’s hot rolled coil (HRC) market given the low ex-China offers and the sharp downturn in the import scrap market. As a result, domestic and ex-CIS offers have gone down over the past week but for now have failed to trigger demand.
Local HRC prices are mainly heard at $800/mt ex-works, down by around $5-10/mt from the official offers last week. Some players report levels $10-20/mt lower are available for exports.
In the import segment, Russia’s MMK has given $770/mt CFR as an offer for March production, while earlier the producer’s indicative level was at $800/mt CFR. NLMK is offering HRC at the same $770/mt CFR level, while the previous deals were at $770-780/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has been informed. Ukraine’s Metinvest is at $770-780/mt CFR officially depending on the coil weight, but Turkish buyers believe levels $10/mt lower would be also accepted by the mill.
Offers from China have been reported in a rather wide range this week, from $690-700/mt CFR to $720/mt CFR and above. Buyers say that the lower levels are for ready cargoes and for a fixed breakdown, and so they are not suitable for some customers. In addition, there has been information about a sales at $800/mt CFR from Japan but it has not been confirmed by the time of publication.
