In the Turkish domestic flat steel market, by the middle of last week local producer Erdemir reduced its domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) offers to $700/mt ex-works, down from $720/mt ex-works two weeks ago. Despite this price decline, market activity has not showed any significant increase, with transactions remaining few in number. However, it is thought that, if prices stabilize in the coming weeks, the market may see increased activity. And, following such a revival, it is predicted that, if demand also continues in November and December, producers' prices may then switch to a slight rising trend.
In the Turkish domestic spot market, HRC prices have been at $730-750/mt ex-warehouse, while cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have been at $850-900/mt ex-warehouse. Although prices have plunged over previous weeks, market activity is still slow and buyers are abstaining from purchases, as their price idea is still far below current prices.
In the meantime, Turkish flat steel producers' export offers decreased significantly last week. Although HRC export offers given by Erdemir have declined to $680/mt FOB, this price level has failed to gained acceptance against lower prices in the European domestic market. SteelOrbis has learned that another Turkish steel producer Colakoglu Metalurji is offering HRC to the export market at the price range of $670-680/mt FOB.
As for imports, although offers are generally on a downward trend, import prices are still above Turkish domestic prices. Russian steelmaker Severstal's offers to Turkey for HRC stand at $730/mt CFR, while its CRC offers stand at $840/mt CFR, both for November rolling. However, these offers remain far above Turkish buyers' price idea. In the meantime, Ukrainian HRC export offers are at $610-625/mt FOB.