In Turkey, the market for hot rolled coil (HRC) has been rather quiet this week, since many players have preferred not to take any steps due to the absence of China and the rather negative outlook for its return, at least among importers. Others, however, according to sources, have chosen to book some HRC volumes of alternative origins. Turkish domestic mills have been trying to avoid price decreases given the recent rise in energy tariffs. As a result, some of them are trying to stick to last week’s price levels, but some have chosen to step back and have offered lower levels.
In particular, the general offer level for November delivery HRC in Turkey is still mainly at $650-670/mt ex-works in official offers. However, $640-645/mt ex-works levels are reported to have been received by many buyers. “I would consider $640-660/mt ex-works a more realistic range of offers, but workable levels should be lower,” a source said. However, some market players said that the level of $625/mt ex-works has also been voiced in the market this week, but most probably for large orders. “The problem is that the supply [locally] is considerably more than demand since people are buying less due to payment problems and also issues with their own sales,” a producer told SteelOrbis.
In the import segment, no fresh solid offers have been seen from China due to its holiday. The latest indications stood at $570-580/mt CFR and Chinese suppliers are expected to start with slightly higher offers once they return. However, Turkish buyers believe the sentiment for Chinese coils is still rather negative.
In the meantime, earlier this week there was a booking of HRC from Ukraine at $580-585/mt CFR for up to 10,000 mt.
In addition, this week there has been talk about ex-EU HRC at $590-600/mt CFR effective, though it has not been confirmed by the time of publication. Some sources say the supplier chose to sell the cargo at a better price to Latin America. Another rumour stated that Egypt has traded a HRC cargo to Turkey at around $640-645/mt CFR for higher grades, but the information has not been confirmed by the buyer’s side. “It is the price of an offer, but I doubt anyone could actually book at these levels. Maybe for specific grades for which Turkish extras are higher than Egyptian ones,” a trader told SteelOrbis.