Over the past week, demand in the local Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) market has slowed down slightly, though prices have continued to increase. As buyers have mostly completed their bookings to replenish their HRC stocks and want to monitor the price trend in the global flat steel market after Chinese players return from their holidays, domestic HRC demand in Turkey has decreased slightly. However, satisfied with the sales they concluded during the past three weeks, Turkish mills have increased their prices as their order books are nearly full. As a result, producers’ prices in the local Turkish HRC market have increased by $25/mt on average to $520-540/mt ex-works. According to market sources, buyers are likely to adopt a wait-and-see stance in the short term following the bookings they concluded during the past weeks to replenish stocks, though domestic HRC prices in Turkey are not expected to soften due to increasing raw material prices.
As for the spot market, buyers have continued to avoid bookings on credit and have preferred cash payments, while traders’ prices have increased by $20/mt in line with the rises in producers’ prices.
|
Product |
Price ($/mt) |
|
|
Eregli |
Gebze |
|
|
2-12 mm HRC |
540-550 |
550-560 |
|
1.5 mm HRS |
580-590 |
595-615 |
|
2-12 mm HRC (for large tonnages) |
|
530-540 |
|
3-12 mm HR P&O |
570-580 |
610-620 |