Foreign hot rolled coil (HRC) suppliers, mainly those from the CIS, have been gradually announcing their offers for September production to the Turkish market. The price levels are more or less in line with the latest deals for August rolling, though the market overall is considered to be rather shaky and discounts are anticipated.
Ukraine’s Metinvest has started offering $940-950/mt CFR Turkey depending on the coil weight, while the latest deals at the end of July were closed at $950/mt CFR. One Russian supplier is trying to insist on $960/mt CFR for its traditionally limited allocation, while another one, according to sources, is offering at $950-955/mt CFR. Although Turkish mills in the domestic market have been largely managing to avoid big discounts, buyers generally anticipate weaker business and pricing and thus believe import deals may be closed not far above $920-930/mt CFR.
Ex-India offers for October shipment have been reported in Turkey at $950-970/mt CFR depending on the supplier. Some sources report that Indian mills are not too active nowadays since around 20,000 mt have reportedly been sold at the higher end of the range to Turkey and North Africa.
Turkish offers for the local market are in the range of $1,030-1,050/mt ex-works from four suppliers, including MMK Metalurji, which is in the market to sell for September at the higher end of the range. Discounts of $10-15/mt are considered possible by buyers. However, a 6,000-7,000 mt sale was rumoured as having been closed at $980/mt ex-works this week, which is very low, but the information has not been confirmed by the time of publication. As regards exports, the official offer level is at $1,030-1,050/mt FOB, but levels $10/mt lower are considered workable, the same as a week ago.