Over the past week, demand in the local Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) market has remained slack as buyers have continued to make bookings only to meet their immediate needs in order to avoid starting the year with high inventories.
Due to the uptrend in domestic coated steel prices in Turkey amid improved demand, ongoing increases in global raw material prices and the rises seen in import flat steel offers to Turkey, Turkish HRC producers were expected to raise their prices for the domestic market. As expected, producers’ HRC prices have increased, rising by $30/mt week on week to $580-600/mt ex-works.
Meanwhile, demand for domestic HRC in Turkish spot market is still weak, while prices have increased in line with the upward trend of producers’ prices. In this context, HRC prices have increased by $25/mt on average, while HR P&O prices have risen by $20/mt on average. However, market sources state that buyers are unlikely to accept the latest prices increases, while some traders are offering discounts of $5-10/mt in order to turn price inquiries into deals.
The domestic sales prices of traders for local hot rolled flat steel products in the Eregli and Gebze regions of Turkey are as follows:
|
Product |
Price ($/mt) |
|
|
Eregli |
Gebze |
|
|
2-12 mm HRC |
580-590 |
590-600 |
|
1.5 mm HRS |
620-630 |
635-655 |
|
2-12 mm HRC (for large tonnages) |
|
570-580 |
|
3-12 mm HR P&O |
630-640 |
670-680 |