The Turkish HRC market remains weak, with mills seeming to be a bit more flexible in negotiations, trying to stimulate sales, particularly in the export segment. Import offers from China, following last week’s rebound, have rolled back, not allowing Turkish mills to be bullish.
The latest import HRC offer from China for 3mm and up Q195 HRC has been set at $471/mt CFR, from one of the key trading companies, while at the end of last week the supplier targeted $490/mt CFR. The offer is for shipment in the second half of August. In addition, the supplier is offering $480/mt CFR for the same material but with a restriction on the choice of supplying mill. The offers from other ex-China suppliers have not settled yet, but are evaluated at around $470-475/mt CFR for August shipments.
A Russian non-sanctioned mill is expected to release its HRC offers for August shipment this week and the buyers anticipate the initial price idea will stand at $480-485/mt CFR, maybe slightly higher. “The market is not good at all, but some may choose to pay a slightly high price to Russia and to receive the material one month earlier than from China,” a local source told SteelOrbis.
The official domestic HRC offers in Turkey are now at $540-550/mt ex-works, in line with last week. However, currently the levels of $530-535/mt ex-works/CFR Marmara are considered slightly more achievable from some mills. As regards exports, the realistic offer price levels from Turkey are at $515-525/mt FOB, with the possibility to go lower for sizeable orders, while the official levels are still at $530-540/mt FOB. The latest and by now the lowest offers to the EU from Turkey have been reported at €480-485/mt CFR duty paid.