Turkish plate prices rise sharply in May despite low demand

Over the past month, Turkish steel plate prices have increased by $150/mt, but the uptrend has been mainly driven by higher hot rolled coil (HRC) rather than by active interest from buyers, which has failed to recover much. HRC prices in Turkey increased by around 11 percent in May and plate offers rose by around 13 percent in the same period. The additional support has come from the import side, taking into account that some suppliers are not in the market to sell to Turkey due to more attractive local offers, while other suppliers increased their export levels by $150-200/mt during the month.

"Currently, traders do not have any low-cost materials in their stocks. Buyers are cautious as always not only because of high prices, but also due to the fluctuations in the lira-dollar exchange rate. We do not have enough projects in the plate segment and we do not expect any demand revival soon. But of course from time to time everybody has to restock and plate demand picks up in these periods," a trader told SteelOrbis.

Prices from the local Turkish producer Erdemir have been heard in the market at $1,150-1,180/mt ex-works for S235JR quality and at $1,200-1,250/mt ex-works for S355JR quality plates for September production, increased by $140-190/mt over the past month.

In the import segment, Bulgaria’s Stomana Industry S.A and Romania are not in the market at the moment, with both producers expected to return with higher prices. Ukraine’s Metinvest is offering at $1,160-1,170/mt CFR for September production, increasing by $135-140/mt over the past month, SteelOrbis has heard. In addition, offers from South Korea and China for S355Jr quality materials for September shipments have been reported since last week at $1,250/mt CFR and $1,150/mt CFR, respectively.

In the shipbuilding plate segment, Macedonia-based Makstil is offering at €1,060/mt CFR for S235JR quality and at €1,090/mt CFR for S355JR quality, for August and September deliveries, increasing by €170/mt over the past month, as SteelOrbis learned.

Prices have increased by $150/mt in the local Turkish spot market since the last month.