Hot rolled coil (HRC) pricing in Turkey has gained some clarity, following some limited business done this week. In the meantime, the number of import offers remains limited, providing additional support to the local mills.
Currently, HRC in the local market of Turkey is available at $505-520/mt ex-works. Some deals, according to sources, have been closed at $500-510/mt ex-works by the re-rollers, in limited lots though. Targets at $530/mt ex-works and above are still there is the market while some mills say even $10-20/mt higher levels might be offered soon. Mills are in the market for end-October – November shipments. It is worth mentioning, that the local buyers have been mainly cautious, taking into account unstable economic and financial situation in Turkey. However, mills’ positions have been greatly supported by high raw materials prices globally and limited number of HRC offers in the import segment.
As SteelOrbis has mentioned previously this week, Ukraine’s Metinvest is in the market with $500-505/mt CFR for small and $510-515/mt CFR for big coils. The product is on offer for October production. MMK’s latest offer for big coils for September production were at $500/mt CFR with no deals reported just yet.
In addition, HRC from Egypt of 2 mm and up thickness has been offered at $525/mt CFR, 1.3 mm product has been priced at $575/mt CFR, both to Iskenderun region. Some prime overrolling material has been offered at $500-505/mt CFR with little response from the buyers.
It is worth mentioning, that there were some discussions in the market this week regarding Turkish buyers inquiring HRC from the US and from Canada. However, most players estimate the price levels would be far beyond the workable ones or the current offers from the other suppliers. In addition, little technical possibility is seen for such sales. “Their production dimensions are in inch basis, while we use metric system. In Turkey main buyers are pipe makers and re-rollers and they are very sensitive for thickness and width tolerances,” a Turkish HRC buyer told SteelOrbis.
