Hot rolled coil (HRC) producers in Turkey have increased their domestic and export offers over the past week. One factor is that the end-users, mainly re-rollers, have been actively restocking following their sufficient sales of coated steel locally and abroad. In addition, the ex-CIS HRC allocation is considered to be limited - the CIS-based mills are mainly sold out for December production and their price indications for the next round have increased.
Local HRC prices in Turkey are set at $540-555/mt ex-works in official offers for January deliveries, up by $10/mt since earlier this week. Some producers are even said to be voicing $560/mt ex-works, but the latest deals, according to sources, were closed at $530-533/mt ex-works and some small lots were traded at $540/mt ex-works. “All the re-rollers are in the market now to restock as they have sold their January production volumes since demand was good,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
In the import segment, as reported earlier, Metinvest sold at $510/mt CFR and $520-525/mt CFR depending on coil weight. MMK has recently sold 30,000-40,000 mt at $515/mt CFR, while NLMK, according to sources, has sold at $530/mt CFR and is now offering $5/mt higher than that.