Turkey’s HRC market is still witnessing rather weak end-user demand, which, together with slow exports, especially to Europe, has been putting pressure on domestic mills. However, the producers in Turkey have started showing some slight resistance to providing further discounts especially in the domestic market, citing strengthening scrap prices. In the meantime, Chinese HRC prices have softened following the deals disclosed at the end of last week.
Currently, some large traders are offering 45,000 mt HRC lots to Turkey at $515/mt CFR, while at the end of last week the indications were at $525-529/mt CFR for end-of-January shipments. Still, some non-VAT materials are reported to be on offer at $505-510/mt CFR. At the end of last week, as SteelOrbis reported, there was information about two 45,000 mt lots sold at $478-480/mt FOB to Turkey from China or at around $517-520/mt CFR. In Egypt, the most recent HRC prices from China have settled at $520-530/mt CFR, with no deals reported.
Russia is also in the market, intending to sell January and early February production. The offers to Turkey have been reported at $495-505/mt CFR for sanctioned material and at around $530-540/mt CFR for non-sanctioned material. In North Africa, where some demand has been seen, offers are at $510-520/mt CFR, up by around $10/mt over the past fortnight.
In the domestic market in Turkey, mills seem to be resisting going below $570/mt ex-works, while earlier $555-560/mt ex-works levels were quite possible. “HRC is not going well and demand is pretty low, with expectations also low. We are still offering for January shipment,” a market source told SteelOrbis. Many explain the mills’ attempts to avoid discounts by the rising import scrap prices, although it is generally believed that the trend in this segment is not likely to be a long-lasting one.