Turkey’s coated steel market has moved down this week, mainly due to the expected investigation against HDG imports in the EU, which is the key selling destination for Turkish producers. Taking into account also low demand and buyers’ cautious sentiment, prices have dropped by $20-50/mt over the past week. Most re-rolling companies report their minimum price is at $1,400/mt for both the local and export markets; however, lower levels have been heard from various sources. Some market players believe $1,380-1,390/mt FOB prices and even lower may be accepted by some exporters in specific deals. In the meantime, in the local market re-rollers are trying to avoid discounts, SteelOrbis understands.
Market players are not optimistic about the market conditions anymore, because of the coming summer holiday season in Europe. Before the investigation rumors, they expected to see good demand in July, but price inquiries have slowed down since last week. Local demand is still low due to the lower price expectation of buyers and the uncertain economic outlook in the country.
"Turkish coated steel producers are suffering now between raw material prices and price pressures. We have this situation every year: sometimes it takes too long to see better market conditions. Before the investigation rumors from the EU, we had at least good export demand, but now it has also started to fade away. Local buyers continue to exert pressure on prices due to the unstable economic outlook in the country. In the current period, we are trying to keep our prices reasonable, but nobody must forget that we also have to restock our raw materials and HRC prices are still strong, so sharp decreases are not possible on coated steel prices," a producer told SteelOrbis. However, buyers still consider the gap between HRC and coated steel prices is wide enough to see some discounts from re-rollers. In the local market, HRC is still at around $1,150/mt ex-works, while in the import segment ex-CIS prices are standing at $1,040-1,100/mt CFR depending on the supplier, SteelOrbis understands.
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Turkish domestic prices (ex-works) |
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Product |
Price ($/mt) |
2 Weeks change ($/mt) |
|
HDG 0.50 mm 100gr/m² |
1,400-1,450 |
-20 |
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HDG 1 mm 100gr/m² |
1,380-1,430 |
-20 |
|
HDG 2 mm 100gr/m² |
1,350-1,400 |
-20 |
|
PPGI RAL 9002 0.3 mm 100 gr/m² |
1.680-1,710 |
-30 |
|
PPGI RAL 9002 0.5 mm 100 gr/m² |
1,480-1,500 |
-20/-50 |
|
PPGI RAL 9002 1 mm 100 gr/m² |
1,450-1,480 |
-30 |
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Turkish export quotations (FOB) |
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Product |
Price ($/mt) |
2 Weeks change ($/mt) |
|
HDG 0.50 mm 100gr/m² |
1,400-1,420 |
-50 |
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PPGI RAL 9002 0.5 mm 100 gr/m² |
1,480-1,500 |
-20/-40 |