According to market sources, prices in the local Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) spot market have moved sideways during the past week, while demand has remained weak. Buyers are still only concluding deals in line with their needs. Meanwhile, the long-standing cash flow problems in the Turkish HRC spot market continue to be observed and inventories have decreased to quite low levels.
On the other hand, Turkish producers’ HRC prices have decreased by another $10/mt in the given period to $310-320/mt ex-works for January production. Meanwhile, Turkish producers continue to offer volume discounts, depending on buyer and tonnage. Due to the political tensions between Russia and Turkey, buyers are hesitating to conclude import HRC bookings and Turkish producers are preparing themselves for upward price adjustments for February production, believing that prices have hit the bottom.
The domestic sales prices of traders for local and imported hot rolled flat steel products in the Eregli and Gebze regions of Turkey are as follows:
Product |
Price ($/mt) |
|
Eregli |
Gebze |
|
2-12 mm HRC |
340-350 |
345-355 |
1.5 mm HRS |
380-390 |
375-385 |
2-12 mm HRC (for large tonnages) |
|
330-340 |
3-12 mm HR P&O |
390-400 |
405-410 |
The above prices are ex-warehouse and for advance payments, exclusive of 18 percent VAT.