Posted on 30 Apr 2019
Turkish domestic hot rolled coil re-rollers and processors continue to rely on imported material, as local mills have maintained prohibitively-high offers. However, a small number of sales continue to take place, Kallanish learns from market participants.
Offers at $520-530/tonne ex-works and slightly higher remain well out of the reach of local buyers, who can buy imported material at around $485-505/t cfr, depending on the quality, volume, and the supplier. As such, several medium-sized lots of Ukrainian, Russian and southern European coil were booked by Turkish domestic re-rollers in a range of $485-505/t cfr, depending on the supplier and quality. One trader was offering German-origin material, at a very competitive price, but has not sold, a trader says. Very small domestic volumes have also been booked, at around $515/t ex-works, sources say.
There is no lack of willing sellers to furnish the country's modest demand, but the advantage of lower price is counter-balanced with the disadvantage of longer lead times and quality variations, sources say. Turkish buyers are willing to book southern European material at the higher end of the range, while a Russian major exporter's offers at $500-505/t cfr for small-sized coils have so far been rejected. Traders note, however, that the mill may reduce its offers slightly this week, which could result in more bookings.
Expectations for May are for a stabilisation of prices pegged by strong iron ore and other feedstock prices, which are likely to prevent further quote cuts. European prices also increased slightly last week, from around €450/t ($502) ex-works to €460-465/t ex-works, somewhat constricting opportunities.
