New flat steel import offers for Turkey expected to increase

In the past week, Turkish market players' price expectations regarding new flat steel import offers for January output have started to gain clarity. Import activity has been quiet as demand in the Turkish domestic market is still at low levels. Most players believe that import offers will register increases, though new increased prices will likely fail to gain acceptance since Turkish steel mills' upward price revisions have not been reflected in market prices. Nevertheless, Ukrainian and Russian origin hot rolled coil (HRC) and cold rolled coil (CRC) offers are anticipated to move up by $20-25/mt, while there is no prediction as regard the possible increase margins from other foreign sources.
 
As SteelOrbis has heard from market sources, most foreign mills have not accepted any orders for their December rolling. The latest hot rolled coil (HRC) import offers from several sources to Turkey were as follows: HRC offers from Slovakia were at $570-585/mt CFR, Romanian HRC offers were at $565-575/mt CFR, Ukrainian HRC offers were standing at $520-530/mt CFR and Russian HRC offers were at $545-555/mt CFR.
 
Meanwhile, the latest import cold rolled coil (CRC) offer to Turkey were as follows: Ukrainian CRC offers were at $595-605/mt CFR, Russian CRC offers for 0.51 mm and above thickness were at $605-610/mt CFR, while Russian CRC offers for thickness of below 0.51 mm were at $720-725/mt CFR. In addition, Romanian CRC offers were standing at $660-670/mt CFR.
 
Import offers to Turkey for January production are expected to be announced in the next two weeks.