While Turkish producers’ domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) ex-works prices are stable and the scrap market is relatively stable as well, Turkish flat steel spot traders have chosen to lower prices. Market participants claim that, although ex-works prices are stable, domestic trade has remained sluggish with an extremely low trading volume, resulting in medium-sized and small traders offering price reductions.
“Unfortunately, the market has not been encouraging, and demand is declining day by day. It surprised me that producers have held out this long without lowering prices,” a medium-sized trader told SteelOrbis.
Over the past week, workable domestic hot rolled sheet prices have decreased by $5-10/mt week on week to $730-750/mt ex-warehouse.
“Our prices are practically unchanged, but the demand side is relatively low, so it appears that the price may drop a little in future weeks,” a bigger trader commented to SteelOrbis.
Although most traders are trying not to reduce prices much, some traders have dropped their pricing to around $720/mt ex-warehouse in an effort to attract customers, citing a lack of demand.
Similarly, in the cold rolled sheet market, prices have decreased by $10/mt week on week to $840-880/mt ex-warehouse.