During the past week, due to weak demand in the Chinese market, domestic HRC prices in China have indicated an average decline of $20/mt, against the backdrop of rising hot rolled coil (HRC) inventories. As a result, global flat steel buyers have been worried that the Chinese suppliers would reduce their export prices to increase their sales. In these circumstances, amid low inventory levels in their domestic spot market and possible price declines in import offers, Turkish buyers have aimed to mitigate their risks and so they have preferred to buy domestic products with delivery dates in late April and early May, instead of opting for import products with late May delivery. This has resulted in weak demand from Turkish buyers for import HRC.
Meanwhile, Russian HRC and CRC offers to Turkey have remained stable over the past week, standing at $495-505/mt CFR and $575-585/mt CFR, respectively. While the volume of flat steel offers from Ukraine is limited, HRC and CRC prices from Ukraine have not changed, remaining at $495/mt CFR and $570-575/mt CFR, respectively.