Turkish flat steel import market remains stagnant

Turkey's flat steel import activities have remained fairly quiet this week in line with the slackness in the domestic market. Although a few import flat steel transactions were concluded at the beginning of this week, price drops in the Turkish domestic market and weak demand have restricted the conclusion of new import deals.
 
In the meantime, since domestic hot dip galvanized (HDG) prices in Turkey are more advantageous compared to import prices due to intense domestic competition, hardly any import transaction has been heard lately for these products, also due to low local demand.
 
On the other hand, despite the decrease seen in hot and cold rolled flat steel demand and in transaction volumes, regular consumers of imported flat steel concluded some transaction at the beginning of May in line with their needs. However, CIS producers' flat steel offers to Turkey for their June production, announced this month, have failed to attract the anticipated levels of interest and the market has started to wait for price cuts.  In the meantime, expectations for lower prices are causing buyers to purchase just enough material to meet their needs and this global trend is putting pressure on steel producers to reduce their prices once again.
 
This week, the general market expectation is that CIS producers and ArcelorMittal Romania may further soften their prices. As of today, May 25, CIS producers hot rolled coil (HRC) offers are standing at the price range of $570-595/mt FOB, while Romanian HRC offers to Turkey are at $650/mt CFR Diliskelesi. No specific decrease margin is being mentioned for CIS producers' prices so far, while it is spoken that Romanian prices may soften by about $5-10/mt.