While the indicative prices for Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) have stabilized at rather high levels, suppliers of the import HRC to Turkey have managed to achieve only a moderate increase in deal prices.
This week, local HRC prices in Turkey have been in the range of $450-470/mt ex-works depending on the supplier. And although buyers have refrained from bookings, sellers remain firm on their prices, being sold out for January. In the meantime, Ukraine’s Metinvest has lately sold up to 30,000 mt of HRC for February shipment at $415-418/mt CFR, versus $430/mt CFR in offers at the end of last week. Russia’s MMK was selling both big and small coils at $415/mt CFR around two weeks ago, again for around 30,000 mt, versus $420-430/mt CFR in the initial offers. “Ex-CIS prices being that much lower than local ones means that the Turkish mills are not being realistic in their targets,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
However, the price trend for HRC may be supported by the expected limitation of the allocation from the CIS, specifically for February production. In particular, the transformer problem at Ilyich SW may not be resolved by then. In addition, Russia’s MMK has recently announced some serious maintenance works for February-March. “If everyone enters that sales round prepared, then prices will increase; not only for HRC, but for slabs also,” a source said.
