Hollow section (HS) prices in Turkey have decreased further over the past week and the key reasons are also the same. The demand remains low in the domestic market and has slowed down for exports since buyers foresee a further price drop, and so they hold back from placing new orders, aiming to receive more attractive prices soon. In addition, hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have been gradually decreasing, the same as in the import scrap segment.
This week’s workable local HS prices have been around $900-1,000 /mt ex-works, down $70-100 /mt since past Friday. The latest offer from one of the large mills has been reported at $900-950/mt ex-works, while some of the medium-sized suppliers have been quoting at $1,000/mt ex-works. But on the other hand, some small mills have been trying to sell at higher prices, at around $1,030-1,050/mt ex-works, which is not workable in the current market circumstances. Presently, export and domestic prices for Turkey’s hollow sections prices are nearly the same.
“Pipe prices are also declining this week, and the market situation looks bad. We are in one of the most challenging periods in the pipe sector, especially because there is no demand in the domestic market. We can understand that exports slowed during these periods due to the war and falling HRC and scrap pricing, but the stagnation of the domestic market has a detrimental impact on us,” a pipe producer told SteelOrbis.