It is observed that demand for import flat steel in Turkey has remained at low levels over the past week, while no new import flat steel offers to Turkey has been heard in this period. Due to the positive sentiment which has surfaced since the US halved its duties on steel imports from Turkey to 25 percent, CIS-based suppliers have started to wait for a price increase in Turkey, which is their biggest flat steel export market, and so they have started to consider a price revision. This has become the main reason for the lack of new offers.
According to market sources, a Russian supplier offered hot rolled coil (HRC) to Turkey $500/mt CFR Turkey at the beginning of the current week, but with domestic HRC prices in Turkey remaining stable they have retracted their offers.
Due to the positive sentiment in the market since the US reduced the duty on Turkish steel imports to 25 percent and since global iron ore prices have increased sharply, buyers in Turkish HRC market - especially pipe and coated steel producers that use HRC as raw material - have increased their bookings. Buyers have already met most of their needs in this period, and so import flat steel demand in Turkey is not expected to indicate a significant revival in the short term, also due to the negative economic outlook.
As already mentioned, there has been no new import flat steel offers from the CIS region to Turkey under the current circumstances. Meanwhile, the most recent ex-CIS HRC and cold rolled coil (CRC) offers to Turkey were at $485-510/mt CFR and $565-590/mt CFR, respectively.