The official level of the domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices in Turkey have remained unchanged for now since the mills are trying to maintain them due to the high production costs. In the meantime, the workable prices have soften further due to low trading activity and even though the mills might be providing these discounts, this still has failed to trigger sales.
Turkish HRC producers are still officially at $630-650/mt ex-works, same as at the end of the past week. However, the market sources report $610-630/mt ex-works is a realistic market price, although business activity has remained slow. In addition, there are domestic offers at $630-640/mt CFR from other regions of Turkey and the estimated freight is at least $20-25/mt.
In the import segment there is almost no activity. While the buyers’ price idea for ex-Russia is at around $550/mt CFR, the suppliers’ price idea varies at $560-590/mt CFR depending on the supplier. Notably, most of the Russian mills are now concentrated on the livelier domestic sales and report the availability for September production will be limited.
