The price movements which recently commenced in the Turkish flat steel market have continued to be observed during the past week. Producers in the local market are inclined to increase their prices, whereas distributors have not still reflected the price increases in the products they hold in their inventories. End-user demand has not shown much acceleration. It is thought that demand may pick up speed with the end of the month of Ramadan in Turkey and with the end of the holiday period in Europe.
The general expectation in the Turkish flat steel market is that demand may recover in late September. Despite the increases seen in prices so far, it is thought that these increases lack support. In previous weeks, increases in both scrap prices and import offers motivated Turkish flat steel producers to increase their prices by $5-10/mt. Although stockists had also reflected these increases in their prices, they have not met with much demand from buyers, most probably since the holiday period has not yet come to an end and as production capacities and buying activity have yet to pick up speed.
Still experiencing difficulties in finding materials of specific qualities and widths, players in the flat steel market report that prices could have increased further if demand was stronger in such a period.
Turkish flat steel producers' prices have this week shown some increases. It is possible to hear different price levels in Erdemir's hot and cold rolled product offers to the domestic market. Erdemir is heard to be offering hot rolled coils in the base price range of $640-650/mt, while its cold rolled coil offers are in the base price range of $750-775/mt. On the other hand, Çolakoğlu Metalurji and Tosyalı continue to offer hot rolled products at the base price levels of $635/mt and $620-625/mt respectively.
Looking at the spot markets, prices of hot rolled (2 mm) and cold rolled (1-2mm) flat steel products continue to be heard at $650-660/mt and $760-780/mt respectively. Cold rolled products of 0.4-0.7 mm width are generally being offered at around $780-810/mt.