The steel plate demand in Turkey has remained at the average levels with the orders enough to keep up the daily business activity, but not quite sufficient in order to create a price increase. Import offers have moved in various directions depending on the suppliers’ position but the most attractive indications are still coming from Asia, with not many transactions seen though.
The allocation of plate from the European suppliers has been limited lately since Liberty Galati is once again non-operational and is expected to be out of the market for a while. Bulgaria in the meantime is offering $810/mt CFR base for August-September shipments, stable over the month. However, buyers’ price idea is still closer to $750-760/mt CFR but it is also not quite clear whether the discounts to this level are to trigger much demand. Macedonia, according to sources, is offering €690-700/mt DAP or $810-820/mt DAP according to EUR 1 = $1.17.
Chinese base plate offers have been reported at $590-600/mt CFR for September shipments versus $580-595/mt CFR a month back. In the meantime, the indications for S355J2 material have been reported at $630-635/mt CFR. South Korea is in the market with $615/mt CFR from one producer and $620-625/mt CFR from another, while at the end of June the offers stood at $630-640/mt CFR. Currently, the material is available for September shipments.
According to sources, local mill’s prices for steel plate are nowadays at $640-670/mt ex-works base, down by $20/mt over the month. In the retail market, the S355JR material, according to players, is available mainly at $690-720/mt ex-warehouse, $10/mt down over the month.