Over the past week, buyers in the local Turkish stainless steel market have mostly postponed their purchases and have concluded deals only to meet their immediate needs due to the strong devaluation of the Turkish lira against the US dollar. However, Turkish mills have increased their stainless steel cold rolled coil (CRC) prices over the past three weeks, since European producers have raised their alloy surcharges prices for November and also due to the uptrend of chrome ore and nickel prices, which are used as raw materials in stainless steel production. Accordingly, in the past three weeks, Turkish mills’ local offers for prime quality 304/2B stainless steel CRC of 2.0 mm thickness have increased by $25/mt on average to the range of $2,350/mt ex-works, while Turkish producers’ quotations for 430/2B stainless steel CRC of 2.0 mm thickness have moved up by $25/mt on average to $1,400-1,450/mt ex-works, for November and December production.
Meanwhile, Turkish producers’ 304/2B stainless steel CRC offers to the export markets, which remained stable at the start of November, have increased by $50/mt on the lower end over the past week to $2,200-2,250/mt ex-works, against the backdrop of the upward trend of global raw material prices. However, buyers are concluding deals for Turkish stainless steel only to meet their immediate needs and so demand is still weak.
On the other hand, over the past three weeks, ex-Europe stainless steel offers to Turkey for 304/2B stainless steel CRC of 2.0 mm thickness have increased by $150/mt to $2,200-2,250/mt CIF Istanbul, while offers for 430/2B stainless steel CRC of 2.0 mm thickness have risen by $200/mt to $1,300/mt CIF Istanbul. Meanwhile, stainless steel offers from Far Eastern countries to Turkey for 304/2B stainless steel CRC have increased by $200/mt on the low end to $2,100-2,250/mt CIF Istanbul, while offers for 430/2B stainless steel CRC have increased by $50/mt to $1,350/mt CIF Istanbul in the same period.
The cash and settlement nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) has indicated an upward trend over the past week, closing the business day at $11,710/mt on November 10, up $1,270/mt week on week.