Over the past week, demand for import flat steel in Turkey has remained slack and Turkish buyers have continued to make import bookings only to meet their immediate needs. One of the reasons for the ongoing weakness of demand for imported steel in Turkey is the difficulty that buyers have been experiencing in terms of opening letters of credit.. According to market sources, some Turkish buyers have made hot rolled coil (HRC) bookings from the CIS region for a cargo totaling 40,000 mt at $530-535/mt CFR. Meanwhile, the Turkish lira has started to strengthen against the US dollar since the beginning of this week; however, this has not supported import flat steel demand in Turkey and buyers have remain cautious about making new bookings since the economic situation of the country is still negative. Market sources state that Turkish buyers are still exerting downward pressure on import flat steel offers, which are expected to soften slightly in the short term.
In the given week, ex-CIS HRC offers to Turkey have decreased by $10/mt on the upper end to $530-540/mt CFR, while ex-CIS cold rolled coil (CRC) offers to Turkey have remained unchanged at $610-630/mt CFR, respectively.