As hot rolled coil (HRC) suppliers have been gradually announcing their offers to Turkey for March, their prices have indicated a sizeable increase compared to previous deals, supported by ongoing solid pricing for Turkey’s HRC. Another reason is still limited allocation as Russia’s MMK is carrying out maintenance.
Ukraine’s Metinvest has started offering small coils for March production at $495/mt CFR Turkey, while some sources have stated that levels $5/mt lower are also available. As a result, the seller is trying to increase its prices by at least $20/mt compared to the previous round. Russia’s NLMK is taking its time to announce prices for March, while buyers expect nothing lower than $500-505/mt CFR, up by $20-25/mt over the past month. In the meantime, some offers from Severstal have been reported at around $510/mt CFR for lots of 20,000 mt. Offers from India and South Korea have been mainly voiced at $535/mt CFR for March shipments.
Domestic HRC prices in Turkey have remained at $510-520/mt ex-works for March deliveries with some deals closed to re-rollers over the past two weeks at $505-510/mt ex-works. On exports, the trade has been slow as the EU has not applied the expected price increase in the domestic market, which means that import offers are not workable. Currently, Turkish HRC is on offer at $500-515/mt FOB and above depending on the seller and tonnage. According to sources, around 10,000 mt were sold to Egypt at $510/mt FOB effective, while the previous sale was closed below $500/mt FOB before the holidays.
