In the Turkish domestic flat steel market, companies witnessed increased activity last week, following the one-week holiday in the previous week. Before the holiday, cold rolled and galvanized flat steel prices had increased, while the market saw price increases for hot rolled flat steel products last week. Producers have revised their domestic offers in line with the improvement in raw material prices and increased domestic demand. Service centers, distributors and stockists have also reflected these increases in their sales prices.
Turkish integrated steelmaker Erdemir's domestic offers for its January production hot rolled products have been standing at the base price level of $650-660/mt, while its offers for 1.2 mm cold rolled flat products have been at the effective price level of $790-800/mt. In the meantime, the local offers of another Turkish steelmaker Çolaoğlu Metalürji for hot rolled flat products have increased to the base price level of $655-660/mt
As regards Turkey's flat steel import markets, since Ukrainian steelmaker Ilyich has already filled its order book for its December production, Ukrainian traders made their own offers to Turkey last week. Thus, ex-Ukraine hot rolled coil (HRC) offers to Turkey were at $590/mt CFR, while Metinvest's HRC offers to Turkey were standing in the price range of $580-585/mt. Hot rolled coil offers from another Ukrainian steelmaker Zaporizhstal to Turkey were at $610/mt CFR, while its CRC offers were at $720/mt CFR.
In the Turkish spot flat steel market, prices have also shown increases. In the local Turkish market, 2 mm hot rolled flat steel prices stand at $650-670/mt, while the spot price of 1-1.5 mm cold rolled flat steel stands at $780-810/mt. Depending on the region and the producer, these levels may vary. However, due to the recent price hikes, sellers also intend to raise their own prices.
Finally, the 5th SteelOrbis Turkish Steel Market Conference, held in Istanbul on November 26, gathered together over 560 representatives from 295 different companies. At the conference, which included the participation of producers, sellers and end-users, the hot topic was the Turkish flat steel market. It was stressed that domestic flat steel demand is increasing in line with rising flat steel production capacity.