Turkish mills have pulled up their hot rolled coil (HRC) offers over the past week, having sold sizeable volumes earlier, mainly to the domestic market. However, the uptrend is not considered by the buyers to be a solid one, taking into account the rather competitive pricing by Asian suppliers.
Domestic HRC offers in Turkey are mainly set at $510-515/mt ex-works for April deliveries, $5/mt above the levels of last week. However, some big buyers report they have in hand $500/mt ex-works from some mills. As regards exports, offers are at $500-510/mt FOB and up to $515/mt FOB for April shipments. No sizeable transactions have been reported as EU demand for Turkish HRC has remained silent for now.
Market players prefer to watch market developments, expecting that Turkish mills will have to step down from their announced offers. One reason is the expected temporary weakening of scrap prices in the coming weeks. Another one is the competitive HRC pricing of offers coming from Asia. According to sources, around 30,000 mt were sold by a mill from South Korea at around $490/mt CFR for April shipment. Another seller from South Korea is offering $495/mt CFR for the same shipment term. In addition, some players have been reporting offers from Japan at around the same levels.
