Retail flat sheet prices in Turkey's domestic market have fallen during the past week, despite certain attempts by hot rolled coil (HRC) producers to raise their offers. Meanwhile, in the retail market the demand has remained weak, exerting downward pressure on traders’ sheet prices. Stockists were expecting better demand following the solid uptrend in the import scrap segment, but it did not materialize.
“There is extremely little demand for retail sheets, which cannot help the trend to rise. Currently, our stocks are almost running out and we need to replenish them, but our prices negotiated with the sheet producers do not keep up with the present due to the uneven decrease in retail sheet prices, and the low demand raises the question of whether we can sell as much as we bought without incurring a loss,” a re-roller told SteelOrbis.
As a result, retailers are only able to sell their material in small lots and so they are not in a rush to replenish their stocks from the mills.
By the end of the week, the workable domestic hot rolled sheet prices have been at $730-760/mt ex-warehouse, down around $10-20/mt from the first days of July. The majority of traders in the cold rolled sheet market are offering roughly at $800-890/mt ex-warehouse, compared to $850-900/mt ex-warehouse the week before.
