While business activity in the steel plate market in Turkey has remained moderate and sales have continued, there has been a decline in the general supply allocation. Some Asian suppliers have stepped back from active offering, while one EU-based seller is now undergoing maintenance. As a result, some suppliers decreased their offers in order to sell, while some decided to increase them.
The number of import offers has decreased over the past half a month in the Turkish plate market. A Romanian producer has withdrawn its offers for fresh plate output, since it took the decision to stop its blast furnace for maintenance. Some stock material may be offered shortly, but for now there are no fresh indications. Bulgaria’s Stomana has increased its price for end-of-January and February shipment by $20/mt to $940/mt CFR, mainly due to the exchange rate situation. Ex-Asia offers are still the lowest ones in the market. China is offering $750/mt CFR to shipyards in Turkey, while South Korea is offering at $750-760/mt CFR for commercial grades and for cargoes to be shipped in March. It is noteworthy that, while South Korea’s POSCO is in the market to offer, Hyundai Steel seems to be out of the market for now.
In the domestic market, local producer Erdemir has decreased its plate prices by around $20-30/mt over the past two weeks to $900-920/mt ex-works depending on the grade. The supplier is now in the market to sell the last quantities for February production. Retailers in Turkey, according to sources, are offering $1,000-1,060/mt ex-warehouse for plate, depending on the grade.
