Most of the plate suppliers in the Turkish market have reported there is a considerable slowdown of demand, which is partly due to the negative mood in the hot rolled coil (HRC) segment and pre-election sentiment among the buyers. However, most of the offers in the market have remained stable over the week since sellers believe large discounts will not help boost demand. Another issue is that most of the offers are for long lead times, in which buyers are not so interested at present. In addition, European suppliers have reported that the unfavourable exchange rate prevents them from lowering their offers.
Particularly, the Bulgarian plate offers for June are at $1,040/mt CFR, in line with last week’s levels and $10/mt over the past fortnight. Some sources, however, believe $1,010-1,020/mt CFR levels are possible to get. Romania’s price ideas have been reported at the same level, but a few buyers said the domestic supplier is not so active these days. South Korean base plate offers have remained at $910-920/mt CFR for June-July shipments, though some sources have reported $950/mt CFR offers for St52 grade. As for China, some of the buyers reported base plate offers at $830-850/mt CFR, while some assume it is possible to push for below $800/mt CFR.
In the domestic market, the local producer Erdemir is selling June production and is still targeting $1,000/mt ex-works and above depending on the steel grade. In the retail market, traders’ latest offers have been reported at $1,130-1,150/mt ex-warehouse for base grades.
