According to market sources, demand in the Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) spot market is still quiet ahead of the general election to be held on November 1, while prices have remained unchanged during the past week. Meanwhile, cash flow problems have continued to be seen in the market in the same period. Accordingly, buyers are still reluctant to conclude deals except for immediate needs.
On the other hand, Turkish producers' HRC prices have declined further by $5/mt in the given period to $330-340/mt ex-works for November and December production. Turkish producers are still offering volume discounts of $10/mt and higher, depending on buyer and tonnage. Turkish buyers have mostly completed their purchases for November production and so the downward pressure on producers' HRC prices has eased down over the past week.
The domestic sales prices of traders for local and imported hot rolled flat steel products in the Eregli and Gebze regions of Turkey are as follows:
Product |
Price ($/mt) |
|
Eregli |
Gebze |
|
2-12 mm HRC |
350-360 |
355-365 |
1.5 mm HRS |
390-400 |
385-395 |
2-12 mm HRC (for large volume sales) |
340-350 |
|
3-12 mm HR P&O |
410-420 |
425-430 |
The above prices are ex-warehouse and for advance payments, exclusive of 18 percent VAT.