Russian suppliers of steel slabs remain the most aggressive in the Turkish market, mainly as they do not have many options but to give in to buyers’ pressure. Turkey-based hot-rolled coil (HRC) producers have been giving extremely low bids for slabs from Russia compared to other origins and to their own prices for HRC. Although the gap has reached around $250/mt, still some Russian mills have already sold decent tonnages, while some are in negotiations with Turkish mills. In addition, Russia is still trying to sell HRC to Turkey and has already concluded deals, but once again with a huge discount from Turkish domestic prices.
According to the most recent market information, the workable import level for ex-Russia slabs in Turkey is at $450/mt CFR, down from $480/mt CFR, voiced by one of the mills earlier this week. However, prior to the current market levels, another Russia-based producer sold around 30,000 mt of slabs to Turkey. Market players report the deal was done at around $420/mt FOB which is around $460/mt CFR or slightly above. Along with slab offers from Russia, other origins are also represented. Particularly, India and Brazil are at $660/mt CFR Turkey and, if compared to the Russians, these deals are certainly not workable.
In the HRC segment, one of the Russian mills sold 20,000-30,000 mt to Turkey at around $630/mt CFR, while another one is in talks at $620-630/mt CFR versus $650/mt CFR in the initial offer. Aside from the non-confirmed aggressive HRC offers from China, Russia’s prices are the lowest ones in the Turkish market, marking at least a $70/mt discount from early July. In the meantime, Turkish domestic HRC prices are still at $700/mt ex-works base and above.
As a result, Russia is selling HRC by $80/mt lower than the local offers in Turkey, while previously this gap was around $20/mt maximum, at least for the first-tier Russian mills. As for slabs, Russia has been selling with a difference of $250/mt with Turkish HRC, while the rolling cost is estimated at $80-100/mt maximum.
