Following their rapid increase on November 7, raw material and hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the Chinese futures market have continued their upward trend. Due to this general upward movement, Chinese suppliers have increased their finished steel offers to the domestic and export markets. Also, with the ongoing rising trend of global raw material prices, hot rolled coil mills, which uses scrap or iron ore as raw material, have increased their prices due to higher production costs. Due to these market conditions, Turkish producers have increased their HRC offers to the export markets by $15mt week on week to $470-480/mt FOB.
Meanwhile, HRC buyers in the Europe, one of Turkish exporters’ main target markets, have further reduced their demand for Turkish HRC following the recent hikes in Turkish exporters’ offers. Also, they have continued to prefer to meet their needs for HRC from their domestic market, since Turkish HRC offers have failed to ensure a competitive advantage when delivery costs are considered