Some steel plate offers in Turkey have continued trending down since last week with some additional discounts possible. For now, Turkish suppliers aim to avoid further sharp drops and prefer to evaluate firm bids from the buyers while demand remains extremely low.
“Of course, we can cut our prices too, but we do not believe price decreases will help demand to improve in the current market circumstances. We take care of each request separately and decide discounts according to the tonnage, payment and even shipment of the orders. It is more fair and helpful at the moment for our customers. They also are happy about this,” a local plate seller told SteelOrbis.
Turkey-based Erdemir is offering steel plate at $530-540/mt ex-works for April-May deliveries, having decreased its offers by $20/mt over the past week. Some sources report that the level of $500/mt ex-works has been also available from Erdemir, but this has not been confirmed by the time of publication. Big traders in Gebze are offering at $570/mt for S235JR quality and at $600/mt for S355 quality plates, both ex-warehouse, and these prices are for long-term payments and prompt deliveries. In the meantime, traders in Turkey continue to offer St37 grade 15-40 mm x 1,500 mm plate at $540-560/mt ex-warehouse in Gebze and at $530-550/mt ex-warehouse in the Eregli region, SteelOrbis has learned. The prices are for advance payment and for April deliveries.
In the import segment, discounts are also available. Bulgaria’s Stomana Industry S.A. is in the market with $550-560/mt CFR for S235JR grade and $590/mt CFR for S355JR grade for June production, down by $10/mt week on week. According to local media, Bulgarian steel mill Stomana will lay off 300 workers due to a drop in production because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Ukraine’s Metinvest is currently not offering due to lack of demand, SteelOrbis has learned. In the shipbuilding plate segment, Macedonia-based Makstil’s price is at €550/mt ($595/mt) CFR Turkey for May deliveries.