Steel plate prices have continued moving down in Turkey since pressure from buyers due to negative hot-rolled coil (HRC) market sentiment is still strong. Although end-user and project demand has been moderate, most plate customer believe the product should be offered at much lower prices as the gap with the HRC is still quite big. As a result, most of the suppliers have decreased their prices for September shipments, while some are reportedly ready to provide additional discounts in order to spur demand.
In the import segment, Bulgaria’s Stomana is at $1,080-1,090/mt CFR, $10-20/mt down since earlier this week and by around $100/mt over two weeks. Ex-Romania offers from Liberty Galati are officially at $1,050/mt CFR, down by around $100/mt since late July. Macedonia-based Makstil has been officially offering at €1,130/mt CFR, but some sources reported less than €1,100/mt CFR is achievable for this origin. Offers from South Korea remain the most aggressive in the Turkish market, having dropped by $30/mt over two weeks to $850-860/mt CFR, but for September-October shipments. In addition, some sources report there are offers for Chinese origin of plate at $870/mt CFR and above.
The domestic offers from Turkey’s sole producer Erdemir are at $1,000/mt ex-works for S235JR plate and at $1,050/mt ex-works for S355JR, SteelOrbis has learned. As a result, since the end of July the supplier has decreased its prices by $100/mt, in line with the downward adjustments of the main foreign suppliers.
