In the Turkish flat steel market, last week's stagnancy still continues. In the Turkish domestic market, the strengthening of the US dollar against the Turkish lira and the slowdown in inventory replenishments are considered to be the main reasons for this sluggishness. End-user demand, which is already at low levels, has failed to show an improvement this week.
In the current week, flat steel prices in Turkey have been corrected downwards, putting an end to the consecutive price hikes of recent weeks. Local traders had told SteelOrbis that, if demand continues to remain slack, prices may continue softening. However, towards the end of this week, price increases observed both in scrap and long steel prices have raised the question of whether these increases could also be witnessed in the domestic flat steel market.
Another important development in the Turkish flat steel market has been MMK-Atakas' launch of its hot rolled coil (HRC) production. Accordingly, MMK-Atakas has begun selling its trial HRC output.
While local flat steel producers' domestic offers have not shown any significant changes, SteelOrbis has learned from market sources that Turkish integrated steelmaker Erdemir has already filled its order books for August production. Erdemir is still offering HRC to the domestic market at the base price level of $780-785/mt ex-works, while its 1-1.5 mm cold rolled coil (CRC) prices stand at $910-920/mt ex-works. In the meantime, Turkish flat steel producer Çolakoğlu Metalürji has not yet started its HRC sales for its August production, while it is continuing its sales of inventory.
In this week's Turkish domestic spot market, 2-10 mm HRC offers have been at $780-795/mt depending on the thickness of the material, while 1-2 mm CRC offers have been at $910-940/mt and 0.5-0.7 mm CRC prices have been at 950-970$/mt - all ex-warehouse. Last week hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil prices had increased. However, following the price increase, this week HDG demand has failed to improve. In the local market, 0.50 mm HDG prices stand at $980-1,000/mt, while 0.30 mm HDG prices are at $1.080-1,120/mt.
As regards imports, SteelOrbis has learned from market sources that Russian steelmakers' HRC offers to Turkey in May have increased by $30/mt to $730-745/mt CFR, while Ukrainian mills' HRC offers have been at $710/mt CFR. In May, it is also heard that Japanese mills have given reasonable offers to the Turkish market.
Turkish mills' HRC export offers stand at the base price level of $770-780/mt FOB. However, market insiders think that demand for Turkish HRC in the export markets may regress to some extent due to the weakening of the euro versus the US dollar.