The Turkish flat steel market is currently going through the summer lull period, with both buyers and sellers seeking to manage with low tonnages. It is not possible to say that the situation has changed on the end-user side; however, some activity may be seen on the side of the buyers and sellers .
This week, an improvement of interest to flat steel consumers has been seen in raw material prices. During the current week, the increase of about $20/mt seen in scrap prices came as a surprise to market players. Some flat steel sellers had been thinking that prices had touched bottom and would start to increase albeit at a slow rate, and this latest increase in scrap prices appears to give them greater cause to believe that prices will rise. However, end-users and fabricators think that there is no reason for prices to increase and that sellers are trying to force price hikes. During the current week, SteelOrbis has heard some sellers reporting that prices have increased, but it is still appears too early to speak about increases in flat steel prices. Prices, which have been trending at unchanged levels for a long time have not shown any significant change this week either, while supply and demand have continued to remain balanced.
Looking at the flat steel producers in Turkey, Erdemir has started to collect orders for September, after fulfilling its capacity with orders for August. Erdemir continues to return to the market at the level of $620/mt for hot rolled flat products. Meanwhile, Tosçelik is offering mixed material (its own production and imported material) at the price level of $640/mt.
In the Turkish market, flat steel product sellers continue to offer hot rolled products (2 mm) and cold rolled products (1-2 mm) at the levels of $630-650/mt and $750-780/mt respectively. Cold rolled materials of 0.4-0.7 mm thickness are currently being offered at about $780-820/mt, depending on width and especially on quality. Traders are trying to increase their offers to higher levels, thinking that prices have reached the bottom and will hereafter enter an upward trend. However, market players are currently wondering how buyers will respond to these levels.