Following the decline in the Chinese market and the related rather sharp drop in ex-China HRC prices in Turkey, the gap between import offers and domestic mills’ indications has reached a significant level of at least $120/mt. Some buyers are expected to consider Chinese offers workable and to be able to insist on slight discounts, while for other origins the pressure from buyers is foreseen to be stronger.
In the meantime, Turkish mills, while offering for June deliveries in the domestic market, have maintained offers rather high and some of them have even increased them over the past week. The current level is at $590-600/mt ex-works and up to $610/mt ex-works, versus $585-600/mt ex-works a week ago. As for exports, some offers have reached $600/mt FOB while others have remained at $575-585/mt FOB. The realistic workable price level, however, is not much above $570/mt FOB, market sources reported.
As for imports, ex-China HRC offers are now at $475-478/mt CFR for Q195 material of 3 mm and higher and for large volumes, down $5-7/mt from yesterday and by around $15-20/mt from the end of last week. Sources expect that $470-473/mt CFR levels might be found workable under current market conditions. “The gap is too big and it might be a good time to buy [imports] while local mills [in Turkey] can take some time to wait and not decrease offers,” a trading source told SteelOrbis.
The latest offers from Egypt have been reported at $575/mt CFR to the southern part of Turkey, down from $580-585/mt CFR earlier. Some sources reported bids at $560-565/mt CFR with no fresh deals heard. Russia, according to some sources, has sold some lots to Turkey at $485-487/mt CFR and slightly above, most probably for sanctioned material but before the Chinese price drop, sources believe.
In the coated and CRC steel segments, the realistic local HDG and PPGI prices are at $780-810/mt ex-works and at $930-950/mt ex-works, respectively, down $10/mt over the past week. Some of the suppliers are offering higher levels still, but, according to market players, “the phone is not ringing”. Local CRC price levels have been reported mainly at $700-720/mt ex-works officially but $10-20/mt discounts are considered possible. As for exports, HDG and PPGI offers are at $730-750/mt and $900-930/mt FOB base, respectively, while in the CRC segment $670-700/mt FOB has been reported.