Hot rolled coil (HRC) prices of Turkish origin have increased further by the end of the week, supported by sufficient volumes traded earlier and by rebounding scrap prices. However, some players believe the uptrend will be short-lived since the support from finished steel consumption has been very much limited.
In the domestic market, offers have settled at $425-430/mt ex-works and above, while the latest deals for medium-sized lots were closed earlier this week at $400-410/mt ex-works, sources report. Despite the increase, buyers believe that $405-415/mt ex-works levels are still achievable, given the unfavorable situation in the end-user segment.
Export HRC offers from Turkey have increased in a few separate steps to $430-440/mt FOB this week, while last week some sizable lots were traded mainly at $390-395/mt FOB. As was reported earlier, sufficient volumes were sold to the EU and North Africa since the prices decreased to acceptable levels from the buyers’ point of view.
Currently, Turkish mills are in the market to sell end-of-May production HRC.
