Turkey’s official hot rolled coil (HRC) export offers for December shipments are ranging within $415-420/mt FOB and slightly above, while buyers strongly believe that $410/mt FOB is also available. In the meantime, a small sale has reportedly been closed to Italy at $405/mt FOB. However, most bids from southern Europe are coming at €380-385/mt CFR, translating to around $400/mt FOB base. In the meantime, some negotiations are reported in Egypt at $420/mt CFR in offers versus bids which are $10/mt lower. Locally, Turkish HRC is on offer at $425-430/mt ex-works, though some re-rollers report they have received levels $5-10/mt higher.
While market sources remain generally pessimistic regarding the further price trend, some players believe Turkey’s HRC offers might not go far below $400/mt FOB in export sales. One reason is that Asian HRC suppliers are no more aggressive in the region with offers to Europe from India being at $450-455/mt CFR and from Japan at $435-440/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned. However, some sources have reported a sale from India to a large buyer in Italy at €380/mt CFR, but the information was not confirmed by the time of publication.
Another reason is the upcoming maintenance at local integrated facilities in Turkey. Erdemir is going to stop its thin gauge rolling line in November, which may result in a shortfall of some 100,000-110,000 mt of HRC. However, some sources say that the producer has enough stock to feed its cold rolling line with no disruption. In addition, there is a report about a blast furnace stoppage at Isdemir, though some sources say the company is eliminating an already idled asset in order to replace it with the new one.