Following the holiday, the flat steel spot market in Turkey has remained relatively quiet, as activity has been slow to pick up and both the hot rolled coil (HRC) and scrap markets have stayed largely stable. However, the anticipated post-holiday demand has not materialized, and trade remains at the low levels seen before the break. While most traders are trying to keep their offers stable amid weak demand and ongoing financial challenges, some price reductions have started to emerge, which are expected to gradually lower the overall market prices in the coming weeks.
“Unfortunately, demand did not pick up after the holiday like we hoped. The market stayed really quiet, and now a few traders with cashflow problems have started lowering their prices, which shows that a price drop in the coming days is more or less unavoidable,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
Currently, domestic hot rolled sheet (HRS) prices are considered workable at around $580-595/mt ex-warehouse. Medium- and small-sized traders are offering prices in the range of $580-585/mt, while larger traders are quoting at around $595/mt. However, due to continued sluggish demand, some traders are offering additional discounts to serious buyers, with prices falling to around $570-575/mt ex-warehouse.
In the cold rolled sheet (CRS) market, most traders have opted to maintain last week’s price levels at $680-735/mt ex-warehouse.