Following last week’s attempts by some mills in Turkey to raise their domestic HRC offers, this week more producers have joined the trend. However, the uptrend is more cost-driven than supported by demand, while also sustained by low import activity and recently closed HRC export sales to Europe rather than by expected improvements in local sales. Currently, import allocation of HRC in Turkey is limited, since Egypt and Malaysia remain out of the market while China will exit the market for its long holiday from next week. As a result, availability will be mainly seen from the Black Sea for March-April shipment and from China via traders’ offers for April shipments-May deliveries.
Currently, the general range of domestic HRC offers in Turkey stands at $570-595/mt ex-works, but most mills’ indications are at $570-575/mt ex-works, while no official offers at $560-565/mt ex-works are heard anymore. The upper end of the range is not considered workable as daily business activity is at a rather low level. “There is no demand. The phone is not ringing and buyers are mainly busy trying to digest existing stocks,” a producer told SteelOrbis. As regards exports, ex-Turkey HRC prices are stable at $560-570/mt FOB for April shipments, with slight discounts possible.
Import offers from China are mainly at $500-505/mt CFR for April shipments for 40,000-45,000 mt cargoes, relatively stable over the past week. Some traders are offering HRC of pipe-making breakdowns at $515-520/mt CFR, sources report.
The latest offers for HRC from the sanctioned Russian suppliers have been at $470-480/mt CFR, with not much demand seen from Turkey, and so the suppliers have focused on sales to the MENA region for February-March shipments. The non-sanctioned Russian mill is expected to enter the market with April shipment offers, while buyers are expecting around $500-510/mt CFR.