Turkey’s flat steel market has been quite active recently since the surge in the import scrap prices has triggered price rises for finished steel including hot-rolled coils and steel plate. Moreover, the purchasing activity has improved as well taking into account that the expectation for a further uptrend to continue is quite strong. The plate prices in Turkey have increased over the past two weeks but import offers have risen more, particularly from the European suppliers.
Bulgaria’s Stomana has increased its plate offers by $70/mt to $900/mt CFR for February shipments. Along with the higher scrap prices and positive market sentiment, the exchange rate situation has also taken its toll on the supplier’s offers. In addition, according to sources, Liberty Galati has still not restarted its blast furnace and so the competition in the ex-EU plate segment is limited. The indicative offers from Romania are still at $860-870/mt CFR for February shipments. Macedonia’s Makstil is at €850/mt CFR base for February shipments and for advanced steel grades.
As for Asia, South Korea’s POSCO is offering now at $765/mt CFR for March shipments and for base grades, up from $720/mt CFR last week. However, several weeks ago South Korea was selling at as low at $635-680/mt CFR depending on the buyer and the lead time. China is now at $650-670/mt CFR for base shipbuilding grades for end-of-January shipments and up to $690/mt CFR for closer lead times.
In the Turkish domestic market, Erdemir is not in a rush to increase prices sharply and, according to sources, is collecting orders at present while import offers have surged. The latest reported domestic plate prices are at around $820-830/mt ex-works for St.52 grades, which is up $40/mt on the lower end of the range. In the retail segment, the S355JR plate prices are now at $940-950/mt and for S235JR prices are at $900-910/mt ex-warehouse, indicating a rise of around $20-30/mt over the past fortnight.