This week, the Turkish hollow section market has continued to show price stability, with no major fluctuations reported. However, trading volumes remain limited, as demand has yet to recover to expected levels. While most pipe producers are holding their prices steady, cautious buyer sentiment and sluggish project activity continue to weigh on overall business momentum. Although stability has persisted over the past few weeks, some producers have been offering discounts to serious buyers in response to weak sales activity. Additionally, sources noted that lower price levels from larger pipe producers are also putting pressure on the market, pushing bid levels down and adding further strain on smaller and medium-sized sellers.
“Prices are mostly stable for both HRC and pipes, but, since demand remains slow, discounts are inevitable both locally and for exports. Beyond the general economic challenges and demand, another real issue for us is the low pricing from large mills. It puts serious pressure on medium and smaller producers and makes it difficult to protect margins,” a medium-sized pipe producer told SteelOrbis.
As a result, domestic hollow section offers have remained stable week on week at $620-640/mt ex-works. However, as mentioned earlier, sources report that some larger pipe producers are offering at more competitive levels around $600/mt ex-works, prompting other producers to apply $5-10/mt discounts for serious buyers in order to remain attractive in the market.
In the export market, a similar stability has been observed, despite demand being noticeably slower compared to the domestic side. Export prices have held steady at $620-630/mt FOB, unchanged from the previous week. That said, similar discounting is also taking place on the export front, with some producers reported to be willing to offer at as low as $600-610/mt FOB for serious buyers, particularly for large-volume orders.