The mood has weakened in Turkey’s hot rolled coil (HRC) market as a result of negative developments in the import scrap segment and buyers being generally cautious regarding restocking. As a result, the workable levels in the local and export markets have moved down below $500-505/mt ex-works/FOB. Some suppliers are still keeping their offers at higher levels, though admit these offers are hardly acceptable as of today.
Turkish mills’ HRC export price idea varies depending on the seller’s position and sales destination. Last week, around 10,000-15,000 mt were booked at slightly above $520/mt CFR effective to Egypt, which is estimated at around $505/mt FOB Iskenderun base. This week, the negotiations were reported at around $510/mt CFR effective, which is around $490-495/mt FOB Izmir, SteelOrbis has learned. In the EU, some small deals were closed to Italy last week at around $495/mt FOB, but most buyers have been bidding at much lower levels.
Against this overall backdrop, this week official offers from Turkish mills for exports have been set at $490-500/mt FOB depending on the supplier, for HRC to be shipped in April. However, in sales to Europe $480-485/mt FOB is possible to get for sizeable orders, though big buyers’ bids hardly exceed $470/mt FOB, SteelOrbis understands. As a result, the workable levels for HRC exports have decreased by around $10-15/mt over the past two weeks and are now estimated at $480-495/mt FOB.
In Turkey’s domestic market, HRC is mainly available at $500-505/mt ex-works with some offers reported at as low as $490-495/mt ex-works or $500-505/mt CFR Iskenderun. As a result, local prices have decreased by at least $10/mt since the second half of January. Business activity is said to be at low levels as buyers are taking their time to evaluate scrap market developments before restocking.
