The steel plate prices have once again decreased in Turkey over the week due to generally slow business, negative sentiment in the flats market of Turkey. In addition, the known financial issues in the country have been affecting construction projects across Turkey. Therefore, the buyers are aiming to minimize the risks and are asking for discounts. Locally, the moderate trade continues and in the import segment certain interest has also been seen for Korean material, which is recently available at the lowest price in the market.
Over the week, Bulgaria has dropped its plate offer for Turkey by $20/mt to $870/mt CFR for mid-September shipments. Some sources assume the seller has made such a move after selling some volumes for August and taking into account that for now the buyers might not be much interested to book for September. Romania has made the similar step and provided $10-30/mt discounts to $860-880/mt CFR depending on the buyer and the order size. The cargoes are also for August-September shipments.
South Korea, according to sources, has recently sold some medium sized volumes at $750/mt CFR, while last week the offers were voiced at $780-800/mt CFR base from both suppliers. POSCO, however, remains at the higher end of the range due to the maintenance-related limited export allocation, SteelOrbis has learned.
In the domestic market of Turkey, integrated Erdemir is at $780-820/mt ex-works base depending on the customer, which is $20/mt down from the lower end over the week. The ex-warehouse base price for plate in Turkey is reportedly at around $950/mt.