In the Turkish domestic market, hot rolled coil (HRC) pricing has not seen much change as mills are in no rush to sell for now. The volumes for October production are limited and it is still a bit early to start sales for November. “They don’t want to voice official offers for November widely because buyers will immediately ask for discounts,” a local source told SteelOrbis. The domestic offers are still at $1,020-1,050/mt ex-works, with $10/mt discounts considered possible for serious buyers.
Import offers are heard from several suppliers to Turkey. Russia’s MMK is at $950/mt CFR, while NLMK, according to sources, has managed to sell medium-sized lots at $960/mt CFR and has increased the price for some buyers to $980/mt CFR. Ukraine’s Metinvest is at $940-950/mt CFR depending on the coil weight, but $930/mt CFR is considered possible, the same as a week ago.
Offers from India are still mainly at $950/mt CFR with $10/mt discounts being achievable. It is worth mentioning that, as expected, offers from Vietnam have appeared in the market. One Vietnamese supplier is in the market with $960/mt CFR for HRC and $860/mt CFR for steel slabs. “The prices are higher than the ones from the CIS, and so there is no interest. In addition, Vietnam is a new supplier and there are performance risks in terms of delivery, partly due to the Covid issue,” a large Turkish buyer noted.