The steel plate trade in Turkey has remained at moderate levels, but the competition between suppliers is still strong. As a result, some of them have decreased prices in order to attract customers, while some have decided to keep them stable, not seeing any potential sales ahead of the holiday. Others, in the meantime, have increased the level of offers due to limited availability.
In particular, the base price offers for steel plate from South Korea have bounced back to $820/mt CFR base for September shipments, up from the deals for small lots at $800-805/mt CFR done last week. One of the main suppliers is out of August production for now, taking into account its scheduled maintenance works. In the meantime, Bulgaria has dropped its plate price by $20/mt over the past week to $910/mt CFR for August shipments, while Romania has preferred to stay at $920/mt CFR for the same shipment term.
In the domestic market, Turkey’s local producer is at $850/mt ex-works for August deliveries but $25/mt lower than prices for September delivery. However, some local players state that the supplier may go down to $800/mt ex-works base equivalent in some cases. The retail plate prices have decreased by $30-50/mt over the past two weeks to $950-1,000/mt ex-warehouse for base grades.