Turkey-based hot rolled coil (HRC) producers have further increased their domestic offers, supported by stronger scrap and steel slab prices. In addition, the competition from the import segment remains limited as CIS-based producers are mainly out of the market and sellers from Asia are focused on their regional sales.
This week, Turkish HRC producers have started to target $460-465/mt ex-works, up by around $15-20/mt over the past week. Some bids from large buyers have been reported at $440-445/mt ex-works: however, no deals have been heard. According to some buyers, some mills are not eager to provide even minor discounts on $460/mt ex-works even for 20,000-30,000 mt lots.
In the import segment, Ukraine’s Metinvest has traded a minor HRC lots at $435/mt CFR for small coils, SteelOrbis has learned. The producer is mulling concentrating rather on slab sales these days as they are more profitable. This week, the producer sold 45,000 mt at $408-410/mt CFR, while last week a total of at least 50,000 mt was sold from the CIS at $400/mt CFR.
Russian mills are currently out of the market. MMK has recently restarted mill 2500 and prefers to watch its production progress and to stay away from the export market. NLMK is taking its time to offer for September production, while Severstal has started to voice $440/mt FOB Baltic Sea, intending to focus on the EU market, SteelOrbis understands.