Demand has not improved over the past week owing to the current unfavourable economic and financial situation which has been impacting business activities. As a result, traders have had to provide discounts for cold rolled sheets (CRS) while trying to keep hot rolled sheet (HRS) prices relatively stable. Furthermore, while some suppliers are trying to destock and are ready to deal at a discount, some large traders are not so flexible yet, assuming that Russia’s mobilization declaration may affect flats supply to Turkey.
“Some traders are attempting to raise prices in response to recent developments, but as long as the negative factors remain, this will be difficult and the expected price decline will be unavoidable if the forecast demand and panic atmosphere cannot be taken advantage of.” a trader told SteelOrbis
Currently, the workable domestic pricing for HRS is $700-720/mt ex-warehouse, which is the same as last week, while some larger traders, as noted above, are attempting to sell at $740/mt ex-warehouse, which is not viable in the current market condition. Conversely, domestic cold rolled sheet prices have gone down by $40/mt to $800-810/mt ex-warehouse.
