Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) producers have returned from the holiday in a bullish mood. Their offers for the local market have increased significantly, following the earlier registered rises in import scrap prices and in iron ore price levels in China. Some deals, however, were realized last week at rather high levels, and so the mills generally are not under much pressure at present. In addition, once again the import allocation to come from the CIS for September production will be significantly limited, which supports Turkish producers.
Today, August 4, the highest HRC offers voiced in the local market in Turkey are at $500/mt ex-works base for end of October-November production. Some sources say $490-495/mt ex-works is also available from some producers. Before the holiday, some restocking activity was heard at $470-480/mt ex-works depending on the buyer and order size, SteelOrbis understands.
Higher slab prices have also been supporting the uptrend in the HRC segment. Slab offers from the CIS have hit $445-450/mt CFR, while before the holiday around $420/mt CFR seemed to be the tradable value. Ex-Brazil offers are also reported at $450/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned.