Over the past week, import flat steel demand in Turkey has remained at low levels due to the slowness of the summer season, with buyers continuing to conclude deals only to meet their immediate needs. Despite the weakness of demand, import flat offers to Turkey have remained unchanged due to the tightness of supplies resulting from the fire at Russian steelmaker MMK’s facilities and Ukraine-based Metinvest not giving offers to Turkey. According to market sources, demand for import flat steel in Turkey is not likely to recover in the short term, while Turkish buyers have started to search for alternative sources of supply instead of the CIS, while exerting pressure on offer prices.
As a result, ex-CIS flat steel offers to Turkey have remained stable week on week, with ex-CIS hot rolled coil (HRC) and cold rolled coil (CRC) offers still standing at $500-520/mt CFR and $575-600/mt CFR, respectively.