Local Turkish steel plate spot prices decrease slightly

Spot plate prices in Turkey have decreased by $10/mt over the past week amid insufficient local demand. Stock levels remain sufficient and most market players consider the lack of local plate-consuming projects as the key negative factor influencing business. Moreover, taking into account the negative situation in the hot rolled coil and scrap segments, steel plate buyers also prefer to wait and see, believing that prices will decrease soon. "Prices for hot rolled coils and scrap have already decreased significantly and we have not seen the reflection of the downtrend in plate prices despite the low demand. In this situation, we expect to see lower prices," a trader told SteelOrbis. "We certainly expect lower plate prices but no dramatic declines. Import prices are strong and sentiment in Europe is positive also for steel plates. There is no reason for local suppliers to slash their prices when there is no cheaper alternative from foreign markets," another trader commented.

In the meantime, prices from local producer Erdemir have been heard at $750-770/mt ex-works for S235JR quality and at $790-820/mt ex-works for S355 JR quality plates, for April production, unchanged since last week.

Offers from the EU are mainly considered as not workable in Turkey. Bulgaria’s Stomana Industry S.A is offering $825-830/mt CFR for S235JR grade and $865-870/mt CFR for S355JR grade for April deliveries, down $5-10/mt over the past month. Romania is still not in the market and any offers from Italy and South Korea have not been heard since last week. Local prices have hit €650/mt ex-works in Italy and it is not expected that any offer from Italy will be found acceptable by Turkish buyers for the moment. Offers from Metinvest have been reported at $760-770/mt CFR for April deliveries, unchanged since last week.

In the shipbuilding plate segment, Macedonia-based Makstil is offering €660/mt CFR for S235JR quality and at €690/mt CFR for S355JR quality, for March deliveries, unchanged since last week, SteelOrbis has learned.