The price dynamics in Turkey’s flats market have not seen much change over the past week, since domestic trade has been modest enough to prevent large discounts, but has not been sufficient to push up offers. Still, in the HRC segment, some producers are starting to offer locally for April deliveries, since their sales have lately been supported by decent export activity. In the coated and cold rolled segments, the price situation varies depending on mills’ sales portfolios, earlier booked feedstocks, and capacity utilization rates. In the meantime, the import scrap segment has stabilized though overall the trend is considered to be unstable, but the high slab prices seen during the past couple of weeks and in recent import bookings have also been supporting flats pricing in Turkey overall.
Domestic HRC offers in Turkey are still at $700-720/mt ex-works for March deliveries, while one producer has already voiced $730/mt ex-works for April material. As regards exports, the offer range has increased by $10/mt on the lower end over the past week to $690-700/mt ex-works, while at least 25,000 mt of HRC has lately been sold at the upper end of the range, mainly to European destinations.
In the coated segment, official offers have been relatively stable for GI at $910-950/mt ex-works base and higher for February and March deliveries, while some producers are willing to sell at $880-900/mt ex-works in the case of serious orders. In the PPGI segment, offers are mainly at $1,010-1,060/mt ex-works for the same lead times, while higher offers are also available. In the CRC market, official offers have declined to $820-850/mt ex-works, versus $840-870/mt ex-works seen earlier.