Although the overall demand situation and project activity in the Turkish plate market is still not sufficient and the downtrend in the hot-rolled coils segment still weighs on the overall situation, some cautious optimism exists. Some foreign plate suppliers have chosen to pull up their prices since late November, taking into account the somewhat limited supply reportedly seen in the market.
In the import segment, Ukraine’s Metinvest is in the market to sell shipbuilding plate grade at $950-960/mt CFR and base grade material is considered to be around $10-15/mt lower. According to sources, the supplier has attempted to increase its offers to Turkey by around $15-20/mt over the past two weeks, citing its somewhat tight export allocation. With these developments heard in the market, Bulgaria’s Stomana has decided to increase its price from $1,030-1,040/mt CFR to $1,050/mt CFR this week. In the meantime, Romania’s Galati has kept its offers to Turkey relatively stable at $990-1,100/mt CFR for the base grade.
South Korea’s POSCO has decreased its offer for Turkey by another $20-30/mt to $950-960/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned. This price is considered to be the lowest import one at the moment, taking into account that ex-Ukraine plate is subject to a nine percent import tax. Accordingly, the South Korean supplier may choose to revise its prices upwards if the shaky upward mood persists for some time in the market.
In the domestic market in Turkey, according to sources, Erdemir’s workable levels are at $960-970/mt ex-works base, while earlier the supplier was officially standing at $990-1,000/mt ex-works. Local traders have lowered their stock prices for plate by $10/mt over the past week to $1,120-1,140/mt ex-warehouse, SteelOrbis has learned.