With the influence of the declines seen in global flat steel and raw material prices, Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) buyers have postponed their purchases once again over the past week, maintaining their wait-and-see stance, while demand received by domestic producers in the local Turkish HRC market has remained at low levels in the same period. European buyers’ price inquiries for Turkish rebar have accelerated after the announcement that the EU is considering the imposition of definitive antidumping duties on HRC imports from Russia, Ukraine, Brazil and Iran. Despite the declines seen in global flat steel prices as well as the weakness of domestic demand in Turkey, Turkish steel mills have strong order books. And with the additional support they have received from the export markets, Turkish steel producers have not reduced their domestic HRC prices this week, keeping them at $620-640/mt ex-works.
On the other hand, in the spot market, traders’ prices have declined by $10/mt week on week due to the weakness of demand, cash flow problems and also given the declines seen in global raw material and flat steel prices.
The domestic sales prices of traders for local and imported hot rolled flat steel products in the Eregli and Gebze regions of Turkey are as follows:
Product |
Price ($/mt) |
|
Eregli |
Gebze |
|
2-12 mm HRC |
580-600 |
590-610 |
1.5 mm HRS |
620-640 |
635-665 |
2-12 mm HRC (for large tonnages) |
|
570-590 |
3-12 mm HR P&O |
650-660 |
670-700 |