Turkish import flats market maintains its strength

The Turkish import flats market, which started to rise in early December, has maintained its strength in January as well, with the new prices announced by the CIS mills.

The prices announced for imported material in the Turkish flats market in January are as follows:

In comparison, the prices announced for the Turkish flats market in December are as follows:

Hot rolled coils ex-Ilyich mill of Ukraine are being offered to Turkey at $715/mt CFR Turkey for March shipment. On the other hand, cold rolled coils ex-same mill are being offered to Turkey at $770/mt CFR Turkey, also for March shipment. Last month's offers for the products in question were at $625/mt and $680/mt CFR Turkey, respectively. The fact that the price of Ilyich material is above the price of Zaporizhstal is an unusual situation for the buyers. A possible price hike in the local Turkish market may trigger sales of Ilyich materials.

Zaporizhstal, another Ukrainian steelmaker, announced its hot rolled coil offer price for Turkey as $685/mt CFR for March shipments. On the other hand, the offer level for cold rolled coils to the same destination was announced as $770/mt CFR, also for March shipments. According to these new prices, we see that the producer's HRC price has increased by $70/mt as compared to the price of the previous month, which was at the level of $615/mt. On the other hand, we see that the CRC price has risen by $85/mt from $685/mt announced the previous month. The fact that the producer's price hike for HRC is below expectations is an unusual situation. Thus, Zaporizhstal may further increase its prices in the coming period.

Hot rolled coils ex-MMK mill of Russia are being offered to Turkey at $740/mt CFR Turkey for March shipment. On the other hand, cold rolled coils ex-same mill are being offered to Turkey at $770/mt CFR Turkey, also for March shipment. The offers for the products in question were last month at $640/mt and $710/mt CFR Turkey, respectively. We see that MMK has adopted a different strategy this month by announcing its CRC prices first, followed by the HRC price announcement after an interval of seven to eight days.

Hot rolled coils ex-Severstal mill of Russia are being offered to Turkey at $760/mt CFR and $735/mt CFR Turkey for April shipment, for big coils and small coils, respectively. On the other hand, cold rolled coils ex-same mill are being offered to Turkey at $790/mt CFR Turkey, also for April shipment. The offers for HRC and CRC last month were at $660/mt and $750/mt CFR Turkey, respectively.

Bulgarian steelmaker Kremikovtzi production hot rolled coils are being offered to Turkey at $690/mt CIF FO Turkey for April shipments, up by $45/mt as compared to $645/mt announced last month. The fact that the trading firms which deliver the materials of the Bulgarian mill to the Turkish market have experienced some problems in their shipments caused a unfavorable reaction on the part of certain buyers. An increase is expected in the new prices to be announced by this mill; however, the mill has not announced an exact price yet. Taking into account the fact that there is no import duty for the materials of the Bulgarian mill, it is possible to say that the mill's prices are low.

Prices are expected to maintain their strength. In particular, since Erdemir is expected to announce new hikes in the local market, it is thought that the prices of import materials will be widely accepted. It is unlikely that the market will end the first quarter with price levels below the levels indicated above. Moreover, once the expected rises are seen in the European market in the second quarter, a decline in the prices will be out of question. However, it should be noted that a decline in the market could only be seen as a result of a global economic crisis.