Since earlier this week, domestic HRC prices in Turkey have decreased by $20-30/mt to $780-790/mt ex-works in offers for medium and large volumes from a couple of mills. Some producers, however, continue insisting on $800/mt ex-works and are trying to negotiate for some May production lots. It is noteworthy, according to sources, that the integrated producer Isdemir, which has been out of the market for a while due to earthquake-related production issues, has restored operations and one of its blast furnaces, and is expected to launch the second blast furnace fairly soon. As a result, buyers expect the company to regularly offer HRC to the local market by around the end of April.
In the export segment, some mills have reported $750-770/mt FOB levels are acceptable now, down from last week’s price ideas at $780-810/mt FOB. Some suppliers, however, are still targeting $780/mt FOB and higher, with no interest seen from overseas buyers.
China’s aggressive price policy has resulted in some sales to Turkey. Earlier this week, a 30,000 mt HRC lot of Q195 grade was sold at $647/mt CFR to one Turkish steel producer. The rest of the sellers are offering at around $650-665/mt CFR for the same grade and around $20-30/mt higher for SAE1006. According to sources, there are offers at $630/mt CFR for Q195 in the market, but not from a regular and known supplier, and so the levels will most probably not be taken seriously.
Other than that, Indian offers are still at $720/mt CFR, while South Korea remains at up to $730/mt CFR. According to some sources, a sanctioned Russian seller may agree to deal at $710/mt CFR for May shipment HRC, down $10-15/mt over the past week. Still, anything above $700/mt CFR is not considered workable in Turkey, at least while the low Chinese price indications are there.
