HRC pricing has continued to trend upward this week in Turkey, supported by mills’ higher production costs, war-related expectations regarding global logistics and fuel prices, as well the lack of aggressive import HRC offers. In the meantime, Turkish mills do not seem to be under much pressure in terms of sales, with decent demand in Europe as well as moderate business activity locally.
The latest local HRC prices in Turkey have been set at $630-650/mt ex-works base for June deliveries, up $10/mt over the past week. The local buyers seem to be still somewhat cautious and prefer not to build up excessive stocks. “It seems that medium and small lots are booked mainly in order to buy at every price level while prices are increasing. For now, there is hardly any serious factor capable of reversing the trend, but higher offer prices are certainly not workable now,” a local source told SteelOrbis. As for exports, most offers are at $630/mt FOB on average, with some discounts possible, but some mills have also started indicating $640/mt FOB for June shipments. The latest sales to the EU, according to market players, were closed at €610-620/mt CFR, including antidumping duty but excluding CBAM costs.
Import offers for ex-China HRC have remained relatively stable over the past week, being influenced by freight trends. The price levels from the second-tier mills have been reported at $535-540/mt CFR, while the first-tier mills have been offering at $545-550/mt CFR. Ex-Malaysia HRC offers have remained at $615/mt CFR and, while earlier the level was considered overpriced, it is now evaluated as a workable one, maybe with a discount of a few US dollars. An Egyptian mill is out of the market still and some sources report the producer might be having some production issues. As a result, it is doubtful whether the mill will offer May production.
Russia is still considered as an attractive source of HRC in Turkey and North Africa due to the still higher risks of buying from Asian suppliers. One of the Russian mills, according to sources, is evaluating offering non-sanctioned HRC to Turkey at $580/mt CFR for June shipments. A sanctioned Russian mill has been offering at $510-515/mt CFR Turkey for the same shipment term, but it has preferred to sell to the Middle East where these levels were accepted, while the highest bids from Turkey have been reported at $500-505/mt CFR. In fact, ex-Russia offers to the MENA region are expected to settle at $515-520/mt CFR in the near future. The FOB prices for Russian HRC are currently at $450/mt FOB Baltic region, $480-485/mt FOB Black Sea for the sanctioned material, and at around $555-560/mt FOB Black Sea for non-sanctioned material, SteelOrbis has learned.