The Turkish domestic flat steel market has remained silent this week, as bookings have been poor ahead of the New Year holiday.
The main issue of concern in the Turkish domestic flat steel market has been whether producers' price hike of $20-30/mt for hot rolled coil (HRC), which pushed up offers to $640-650/mt ex-works, would attract demand. However, in the last two weeks, since prices started to trend upwards, transaction activity has remained poor. However, domestic HRC demand in Turkey is expected to start recovering by the first week of January after the New Year holiday, and more particularly by the second week of next month, while prices for February rolling material are foreseen to increase further on the back of accelerated transaction activity.
In the meantime, domestic spot prices in the Turkish flat steel market have continued to follow a sideways trend. Accordingly, 2-12 mm HRC spot prices have been at $650-680/mt, while 1-1.5 mm cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have been at $770-810/mt, both ex-warehouse.
After the Christmas and New Year holiday, new import flat steel offers are expected to be given to the Turkish market by the second week of January, when Europe and the CIS return to the market. These offers are expected to bring some momentum to the local market. Most market players think that some price increases will be seen in these offers.