The Turkish domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) market has started the New Year with sluggish activity amid the increased strength of the US dollar against the Turkish lira. Purchases which had been postponed in the market due to the year-end period have continued to be delayed due to the weaker Turkish lira and currency fluctuations. Meanwhile, local prices have remained unchanged as compared to the pre-New Year period, while inventory levels in the spot market are at decent levels and demand is expected to indicate an improvement once postponed purchases start to be concluded.
In the meantime, Turkish flat steel producers' HRC prices are still standing at $595-610/mt ex-works, indicating no changes over the same period. Considering higher raw material costs and expecting the pent-up demand to be released soon, HRC mills desire to increase their prices, though the appreciation of the dollar has prevented them from achieving higher prices.
The domestic sales prices of traders for local and imported hot rolled flat steel products in the Eregli and Gebze regions of Turkey are as follows:
Product |
Price ($/mt) |
|
Eregli |
Gebze |
|
2-12 mm HRC |
600-610 |
600-610 |
2-12 mm HRC (for large volume sales) |
635-640 |
630-640 |
1.5 mm HRS |
585-600 |
|
3-12 mm HR P&O |
650-655 |
660-665 |
The above prices are ex-warehouse and for advance payments, exclusive of 18 percent VAT.
Weekly price movements of different steel products in major markets can be viewed comparatively in the SteelOrbis Historical Steel Prices section. Market trends can thus be seen more clearly, while desired charts can be created and used in reports or presentations.