Following the US President Trump’s decision to increase the duties on Turkish steel imports from 25 percent to 50 percent on August 10, Turkish lira depreciated sharply against other currencies. Although Turkish lira has compensated its losses partly this week, range of daily fluctuations of currency is so wide that causes welded pipe trade in the country to slow down and to almost coma to halt. Market sources state that buyers in the local Turkish welded pipe market is concluding deals only to meet their immediate needs and while trading activity in spot market continues no one is willing to make high tonnage welded pipe purchases due to the uncertainty of currency fluctuations.
Meanwhile, demand in local Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) market is very slack and prices are under pressure due to the market expectation that domestic HRC supplies in Turkey will increase slighlty as Turkish HRC exports will decrease due to additional duties. Therefore, domestic HRC prices in Turkey are expected to soften after the Feast of Sacrifice holiday and welded pipe producers are expected to revise their prices accordingly. Turkish producers’ offer range for ERW pipes and hollow sections with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from hot rolled coil (HRC) of S235 grade as per EN 10219 to their domestic market have declined by $10/mt week on week to $650-690/mt ex-works