Although many market players believed Turkey will try to increase its prices for hot rolled coil (HRC) following the safeguard adjustment in the EU, for now there are no signs of a solid recovery. Indeed, Turkey’s material is expected to be one of the few favored by European buyers over certain Asian origins, at least in the short run, while demand is not sufficient at the moment. Buyers seem to be assessing the situation and, in addition, many of them had restocked from Turkey before and may try increasing the tonnage of their previous orders.
Currently, official HRC offers from Turkey for overseas destinations are at $595-605/mt FOB for July shipments, relatively stable over the past week. However, the workable level is still assessed by suppliers at $580-590/mt FOB. “There may be an increase in local HRC prices in the EU, so I believe Turkey will not rush to sell. The situation is still not clear,” a trading source told SteelOrbis. Some market sources believe Turkey will still find it hard to increase export prices to the EU since there is the disadvantage of the antidumping duty which may outweigh the advantage of shorter lead times. Saudi Arabia is expected to be one of the preferred origins in the EU since it is not subject to any quota, either country-specific or among the ‘other countries’.
Domestic HRC prices in Turkey are at $610-620/mt ex-works for July deliveries, relatively stable over the past week. Many consider $600/mt ex-works as a workable level, although some buyers have reported levels of $585-590/mt delivered to Marmara as a possibility from some mills.
Import offers from China for Q195 material are now at $570-575/mt CFR for July shipments, versus $580-590/mt CFR a week ago. Despite the weakening, no deals have been reported and some bids are still not above $560/mt CFR, suppliers report.
