Import steel plate offers rise sharply in Turkey

Domestic steel plate prices in Turkey have remained stable in Turkey over the past week despite insufficient demand, while import offers have surged over the same period. The number of sources is still limited due to the positive market in Europe, and so the allocations for the Turkish market are not sufficiently big. In such a situation, foreign suppliers are keeping their offers in line with their domestic levels, which are considered overpriced in Turkey. "Import offers are really high at the moment, but buyers don’t have any problem with their orders. The local producer has allocation at the moment but that will be also problematic soon because they have started to get demand from Europe also. When they sell out September production to export destinations, it is obvious we will see higher [local] prices for plates. But buyers don't think this situation is bad. They only have limited demand due to limited projects and they do not face difficulties to find material because they do not need high stocks," a trader told SteelOrbis.

Prices from the local Turkish producer Erdemir have been heard in the market at $1,150-1,180/mt ex-works for S235JR quality and at $1,200-1,250/mt ex-works for S355JR quality plates for September production, unchanged over the past week.

In the import segment, Bulgaria’s Stomana Industry S.A is now in the market for September shipment with limited tonnages. Its prices are at $1,400/mt CFR for S235JR and $1,430/mt for S355JR quality plates. Romania is still not in the market at the moment, but the expectation for its new price level is a minimum of $1,300/mt CFR for August production for S235JR quality. The company's latest offers were at $1,090-1,100/mt CFR for July rolling of the same grade. Metinvest is not offering again but higher prices will be expected from the producer for end-of-September production. The company's latest prices were at $1,160-1,170/mt CFR, as SteelOrbis has heard. No new offers from the Asian markets have been heard over the past week.

In the shipbuilding plate segment, Macedonia-based Makstil is offering at €1,060/mt CFR for S235JR quality and at €1,090/mt CFR for S355JR quality, for August and September deliveries, unchanged since last week, as SteelOrbis has learned.

Prices have been stable in the local Turkish spot market since last week.