Plate prices stable in Turkey, some suppliers absent from market

In the local Turkish steel plate market, demand has remained low and prices have not changed much. Some foreign suppliers have chosen not to offer to Turkey because of the low local prices and the still high stocks on the traders’ side. "Specifically, European producers are unwilling to offer to Turkey because prices are still strong in Europe. Some believe the downtrend will come to an end soon and they only accept demand from their regular customers and are trying to settle on an acceptable price level. But the gap is around $100/mt between local Turkish prices and import prices, and so choosing an acceptable price level mostly seems impossible. Demand is low as always because the main problem is not the price. We do not have enough projects in the market," a trader told SteelOrbis. 

Prices from local producer Erdemir have been heard at $750-770/mt ex-works for S235JR quality and at $790-820/mt ex-works for S355 JR quality plates, for April production, unchanged since last week.

On the import side, Bulgaria’s Stomana Industry S.A has closed its sales for March deliveries and its prices for April have not yet been disclosed to the market . Offers from Romania are still not heard in the market, but offers for April deliveries will likely be heard soon. Offers from South Korea have been heard at $730/mt FOB in the market, while Italian offers have been heard at €600-610/mt CFR for April deliveries. Offers from Metinvest have been reported at $760-770/mt CFR for April deliveries.
In the shipbuilding plate segment, Macedonia-based Makstil is offering €660/mt CFR for S235JR quality and at €690/mt CFR for S355JR quality, for March deliveries, decreasing by €10/mt since last week, SteelOrbis has learned.