Turkish mills have been forced to decrease their hot rolled coil (HRC) prices over the past week, taking into account still slow domestic demand and low bids for exports. Still, some sizeable sales have been done lately, specifically to European buyers.
Export offers for HRC from Turkey for November production have moved down by $20-50/mt from the official offers in the middle of last week to $920-950/mt FOB. Some sales for around 50,000 mt in total in small deals have recently been closed to various countries, including south European countries, African countries and Canada. Another supplier, according to sources, has again sold small lots at $920-930/mt FOB.
In the local market, most official HRC offers have decreased to $950/mt ex-works, down $20/mt over the past week. Still, the lowest level for domestic buyers is considered to be at $925-930/mt ex-works for sizeable orders.
Import offers from the CIS have been relatively stable with MMK standing at $890-900/mt CFR and NLMK at above $900/mt CFR. The latest deals from Metinvest were closed at $890/mt CFR, while its new bids are at $880/mt CFR and below, SteelOrbis understands.