Import slab negotiations are continuing in Turkey with slab of various origins being offered in the market. Despite Turkish mills’ obvious interest in slab bookings amid higher scrap prices, they are insisting on lower prices, partly as the recent price hike in the hot rolled coil segment has yet to be accepted by buyers.
Suppliers, on the other hand, are not under much pressure to trade slabs actively, having more or less closed May production sales over the past few weeks, mainly to China. Steel slab from Russia and Ukraine is on offer at $360-365/mt CFR Turkey for June shipments. One Brazilian mill, according to the buyers, has been in the market with $360/mt CFR, for the same shipment term.
Offers for Euro 1 quality slabs is also present in Turkey. Semis ex-British Steel to be shipped in the first half of June are priced at $370-375/mt CFR, which is considered to be reasonable compared with the price levels for slab of other origins, SteelOrbis understands.
According to sources, two mills in Turkey have been negotiating rather actively, while two others have stood back from negotiations until next week. Bids have been reported at $330-340/mt CFR, while some CIS-based sellers believe that $350/mt CFR is an achievable level, but Turkey will hardly pay higher than that. As the scrap supply situation has been cooling down with more cargoes being nowadays offered to Turkey, Turkish mills have been showing some resistance to higher slab prices. In addition, Turkish hot rolled coil producers have been unable to achieve $430-440/mt ex-works/FOB levels in deals due to low end-user demand. The workable level is estimated at around $405-415/mt ex-works/FOB maximum, according to the latest medium-sized deals.
