The situation in the Turkish flat steel market and in particular its hot rolled coil (HRC) segment remains positive, contrary to the situation in the longs and import scrap sectors. Limited allocation and active demand remain the key driving forces, allowing HRC suppliers to Turkey to keep their prices high and even to attempt additional increases.
Domestic HRC prices in Turkey remain firm, while the local mills are in the market to sell for July and August deliveries in some cases. The official offers are at $900-920/mt ex-works and up to $930/mt ex-works, voiced by some suppliers. It is worth mentioning that some buyers report that the mills intend to increase their HRC offers for the local market to $940-950/mt ex-works. Still, some customers say that $880-890/mt ex-works is possible to get for certain orders. In the export segment, official offers from Turkey have been reported at $900-920/mt FOB depending on the supplier.
In the import segment, Russia’s MMK has started indicating HRC offers for June production, having voiced $880/mt CFR for a latest shipment date of mid-August. Its previous offers for May production were at around $865/mt CFR, with its latest sales concluded to Turkey at $860/mt CFR, as SteelOrbis reported earlier. It is worth mentioning that the local market in Russia has started to pick up, additionally supporting Russian producers. In the meantime, no fresh solid offers have been heard from NLMK or Ukraine’s Metinvest. Buyers say the suppliers in question have decided to wait until next week.