Market sources state that Turkish mills’ local offers for prime quality 304/2B stainless steel cold rolled coil (CRC) of 2.0 mm thickness for September production have decreased by $100/mt week on week to the range of $2,100-2,150/mt ex-works, for September deliveries. In the same period, Turkish traders’ stainless steel offers in the local spot market have moved sideways in the range of $2,300-2,350/mt ex-warehouse, for advance payment. Market players state that demand in the Turkish domestic stainless steel market has almost come to halt and so Turkish stainless steel producers have had to decrease their prices. Meanwhile, Turkey’s Ministry of Economy has announced the initiation of an antidumping (AD) duty investigation for cold rolled stainless steel imports from China and Taiwan, in response to an application made by local stainless steel producer Posco Assan TST, which claimed that cold rolled stainless steel imports from these two sources were dumped. Market players state that Turkish traders’ interest in domestic stainless steel may increase and prices may move upwards accordingly, if the government decides to impose an antidumping on stainless steel imports from these countries.
According to market sources, Turkish producers’ offers to the export markets for the abovementioned stainless products have remained stable over the past week at $2,050-2,100/mt ex-works. Market players state that demand for Turkish stainless steel in the export markets has been slack and only sales of small tonnages of Turkish stainless steel have been concluded to eastern Europe.
Meanwhile, ex-Europe stainless steel offers in Turkey for second quality 304/2B stainless steel cold rolled coil of 2.0 mm thickness are at €2,000/mt CIF, but Turkish buyers consider this price level to be on the high side. Besides, stainless steel offers from China and Taiwan to Turkey have decreased by $100/mt over the past week to the range of $1,800-1,850/mt CIF Istanbul.
The cash and settlement nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) has fluctuated upwards, increasing by $295/mt since August 27, closing the day at $10,025/mt on September 3.