Turkey sees low flat steel demand for imports amid softening of local prices

Having started May with deals for small tonnages, the Turkish flat steel import market continued to see slack demand throughout the month, while the import market was also affected by the Turkish domestic flat steel market where a number of decreases in prices were observed during the month.
 
Last month, hot rolled coil (HRC) offers from Ukrainian mills to the Turkish domestic market were at $590-610/mt CFR, while Russian mills' HRC offers were standing at $630/mt. On the other hand, ex-Romania and ex-Brazil HRC offers to Turkey were at $650/mt CFR. Turning to the current month, July production import flat steel offers to Turkey are expected to decline amid the softening in the international flat steel markets and as demand has remained weak in the Turkish import market.
 
Turkish buyers who conclude deals regularly in the import market are waiting for new import offers and are likely conclude transactions in the coming weeks.