Plate offers in Turkey have once again dropped significantly since suppliers have remained under pressure from tough competition, limited restocking volumes, and the overall pessimistic flats market outlook. Still, some trade is still seen, though at times the suppliers choose to go lower than their official offers in order to get tonnages. “It should be considered that the aggressive price reduction may be done for specific certain projects by everyone to get orders,” one of the sellers said.
Steel plate offers from Romania and Bulgaria are at $950/mt CFR for November-December shipments, down $20/mt and $30/mt over the past week, respectively. South Korea is offering for February shipments at $800/mt CFR, down $30-40/mt over the past week. Moreover, further discounts for South Korean plate are applicable, given the long lead time. China, according to sources, in now offering grade A plate at $760/mt CFR, down by around $40-50/mt. “The price is good but there is no confidence in them in the market after their very late deliveries to Turkey compared to their agreements,” a source told SteelOrbis. In addition, Macedonia is offering at €930/mt DAP for S355JR material officially, but many sources report the price is down to €900/mt CFR. Some customers believe €880/mt CFR is also achievable.
In the domestic market, Erdemir’s plate prices are at around $960-1,000/mt ex-works, down $15-25/mt over the past week. However, according to some sources, the producer’s premium grade plates are available at up to $1,050-1,060/mt ex-works. Turkish traders are offering at $1,100-1,130/mt ex-warehouse for S235JR and at $1,150-1,160/mt ex-warehouse for S355JR, which is almost in line with the levels of last week. “Demand is not as strong as last month but I cannot say it is disturbingly low. Manufacturers have enough order book capacity, but they say demand from the customers is 10-15 percent less than expected,” a producer said.