Turkey’s flat steel market has remained rather weak, under pressure from slowing domestic demand, fluctuating Chinese hot rolled coil (HRC) offers and overall insufficient exports. However, HRC prices have only softened slightly over the past week, while somewhat larger discounts have been provided in the coated and cold rolled steel segments. Some market players believe domestic demand may pick up a little in the coming weeks, since some buyers had been postponing deals ahead of the US presidential election.
Import HRC offers from China have slid slightly by the end of the week and settled at $537-540/mt CFR for large lots of Q195 material. No fresh deals have been reported since buyers prefer to wait given the decline in domestic HRC offers and the pressure on Turkish mills from their weak export sales.
Turkish domestic HRC prices have slid by around $5/mt over the past week to official offer levels of $610-620/mt ex-works, while additional $5/mt discounts are considered possible. As regards exports, the current realistic HRC price level from Turkey is at $570-585/mt FOB, down slightly over the past week. However, in North Africa, Russia is active with $520/mt CFR sales for December shipment. In the EU, in the meantime, buyers prefer to delay deals and the possible workable numbers are evaluated at below $560/mt FOB. Sources expect that European buyers will resume relatively active restocking no earlier than December.
Aside from fluctuating prices in China and slow exports, Turkish HRC mills have been feeling some pressure from local re-rollers, who have been facing slower demand and, as a result, have been forced to provide discounts.
In particular, currently domestic hot dip galvanized offers from Turkish re-rollers are at $830-850/mt ex-works for 0.5 mm Z100 material, down $10/mt on the upper end over the past week. Turkish pre-painted galvanized offers are now estimated at $965-1,000/mt ex-works for Z100 material and $930-950/mt ex-works for Z60 coating. However, discounts of at least $10-20/mt are considered applicable. Domestic CRC prices are now evaluated at $730-750/mt ex-works, down $20/mt over the past two weeks, while export levels are even $10/mt lower than that, SteelOrbis understands.