Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) producers are staying away from making active price movements in the domestic market, since they are offering for October and November already. As for exports, however, some discounts were provided for sales at the end of August in order to attract customers and trade some lots, mainly to non-EU destinations. The import segment of the HRC market is still represented basically by China, which has chosen to increase prices this week.
The domestic HRC offers in Turkey have not moved much over the week, mainly taking into an account buyers’ earlier restocking and mills not being in a rush to stimulate sales. Most indications are reported at $670-680/mt ex-works, and up to $690-700/mt ex-works in some cases for specific orders, while last week $660/mt ex-works was considered available.
In the export segment, some sales took place in late August, mainly to non-EU destinations. According to sources, one of the producers traded over 50,000 mt of HRC to several North African countries at $620-630/mt FOB. Another producer, according to sources, closed deals again to some North African countries and to the UK for up to 25,000 mt of HRC in the second half of August at $610-615/mt FOB. For now, there is still some demand for non-EU destinations which is evaluated at around 10,000-15,000 mt. The official HRC offer levels from Turkey are at $630-640/mt FOB now, but some suppliers may once again go lower than that. For the EU, the initial export indication for HRC from Turkey is at $640-645/mt FOB.
Import offers from China have increased from $570-575/mt CFR to $590-595/mt CFR over the past week for HRC of Q195 grade, 3 mm and higher. Most of the involved parties have reported that no sales have been concluded, although some bids have increased by $5-10/mt to around $570/mt CFR. The cargoes from China are for October shipments. Other Asian suppliers still seem uninterested in active offers to Turkey, while being busy in their local markets and also counting on higher-priced sales to Europe. Russian suppliers have indicated around $590-595/mt CFR to Turkey for HRC for October shipment, but instead one of them has chosen to sell a medium-sized lot to North Africa at $600/mt CFR. “Turkey would hardly pay over $550-560/mt CFR for most Russian HRC as already there are some fears that EU customers would check feedstock origin for Turkey’s CRC and coated,” a market source said.