Business activity in the HRC market in Turkey has increased compared to earlier this month, which has also pushed up prices, mainly in the domestic segment. According to sources, some of the re-rollers, but mostly pipe and profile producers, have returned to the market with inquiries, partly fearing there might be a temporary supply shortage in the market. The mills located in the Iskenderun region, severely affected by the earthquakes of February 6, are at the moment trying to assess the damage incurred, conducting the necessary inspections and, of course, providing necessary aid to personnel as a top priority.
According to sources, there have been massive bookings starting from the end of last week, mainly at $770-790/mt ex-works base depending on the mill and order volume. Some market players assess the total booking volume may have reached 200,000-250,000 mt. “Mainly pipe-makers have booked since they were thinking the market would not increase and they were in short positions. Now the situation has changed,” a trader said. Following the bookings, local Turkish HRC mills have increased their offer prices to $800-820/mt ex-works and some of them have started offering for May deliveries.
In the export segment, according to some sources, producers are voicing indications for April shipments at around $780/mt FOB and above. However, some suppliers are confident that nothing much above $750/mt FOB will be workable in the EU, despite the recent local prices and bullish sentiments among European mills.
In addition to the vague supply situation in the domestic HRC market, which partly triggered the price upturn, there is a limited number of offers in the import segment. Basically, as of now there are offers from China at $700-710/mt CFR for Q195 quality, while two weeks ago the offers stood mainly at $680-700/mt CFR. According to sources, around 10 days ago China sold 25,000-30,000 mt of HRC to Turkey at $665-670/mt CFR. Sellers report there is some interest from Turkish buyers, although there are some concerns regarding the renewed 13-15 percent import tax. “Exports are zero, so everyone importing now should be making the calculation with the import duty,” a source told SteelOrbis. In addition, materials of duty-free origins, such as Egypt, are expected to be in demand in Turkey. The latest offer from the Egyptian mills stood at $780/mt CFR. Similar or $10/mt higher offers are available from India, while Vietnam and Taiwan are at $700-720/mt FOB with the freight evaluated at around $60/mt for relatively large lots.
Russia traded 50,000 mt for March production at $700/mt CFR over the past 10-15 days. One of the mills is at $700-710/mt CFR for the same month’s rolling, while another one is trying to reach $720/mt CFR.
