Turkish flat rolled market continues to move up

The domestic flat rolled market of Turkey continues to experience price increases driven by costs, while end-user demand has yet to improve. 
  
The Turkish flat rolled market ended April with price increases and purchasing activities carried out by local traders. The buying activity of local traders still continues to keep the Turkish flat rolled market active, while demand from end-users is not as good as the demand from the local traders. It is commonly expected that the new price levels will find acceptance this week. Last week's bottom price levels have moved upwards, in confirmation of this expectation. The rise seen in scrap prices this week may also be seen as pointing to further price hikes by flat rolled producers in the coming period.
 
Domestic producers have had a very busy week. At the start of the week, local producer Erdemir filled its order books for June production and started to return to its customers for August production. The mill has not yet announced any price level for August production. June production orders were booked at price levels of $730-760/mt ex-works for hot rolled coils. For cold rolled coils, Erdemir's July production orders were priced at $880-890/mt ex-works for 1-1.5 mm thicknesses.
 
Another Turkish flat rolled producer Colakoglu Metalurji sold its June production at $750/mt ex-works, and then announced that it was closing its sales. Both producers are expected to come back with higher price levels for the new period. Import offers and increased raw material costs lead to expectations that the mills will announce their hot rolled coil prices at $780/mt ex-works, base.
 
In the Turkish domestic market, local traders have made their orders for the June-July period; however, their inventories are still not high. In the spot market, 2 mm hot rolled coils are offered at $740-780/mt ex-warehouse, while 1-2 mm cold rolled coils are offered at $900-950/mt ex-warehouse. Local traders are heard to be continuing their inventory replenishment activities, while demand from end-users is not as active. However, according as end-users gradually come to accept the new price levels, they are expected to start purchasing as well.