Strong demand and supply problems have resulted in new $10-40/mt price increases in the Turkish flat steel spot market over the past week. Demand is also strong, mainly because buyers are having trouble finding material in order to cover their needs. Traders are still struggling to receive the full volumes from their previous orders from mills and are suffering from a lack of stocks, while demand is good and sales would have been marginal. "We did not receive our orders from January and we are now missing out on the good demand. Nobody wants high stocks in the spot market, but we can barely find material to sell," a trader told SteelOrbis.
On the other hand, traders would like to avoid a situation where mills speed up their deliveries because in that case stock levels in the market will surge and it could cause prices to fall. "If producers start to give our orders at once, that will be another problem for the spot market. High stocks always cause lower demand and lower prices," another trader told SteelOrbis. However, a downturn in spot prices seems unlikely for the time being due to the uptrend in mills’ HRC and CRC offer prices.
Spot prices have increased by $40/mt for CRC materials, by $10/mt for HRC and HR pickled materials, week on week.
Product |
Price ($/mt) |
|
Ereğli |
Gebze |
|
2-12 mm HRC |
830-860 |
840-860 |
1.5 mm HRS |
860-890 |
870-900 |
3-12 mm HR P&O |
910-930 |
920-940 |
0.6 mm CRC |
1,110-1,120 |
1,110-1,130 |
0.7-2 mm CRC |
1,080-1,090 |
1,080-1,100 |