Flat steel prices in Turkey rise on strong demand, limited supplies

Most flat steel prices in Turkey increased in the week to Friday, March 3, in line with strong demand and limited supplies, sources told Fastmarkets.Flat steel prices have been increasing since two earthquakes struck the Kahramanmaras region of Turkey on Monday, February 6.

10 cities in the region were affected and the port at Iskenderun was damaged.

The biggest steel producer in the region, Iskenderun Iron & Steel (Isdemir) has still not resumed production, but Koç Metalurji and MMK Metalurji have announced they have restarted steel production.

Because of limited steel supplies in the country, sources said, the Turkish government postponed the introduction of higher import duties on flat steel products until April 1, 2023.

Turkish steelmakers had a meeting with the country’s Ministry of Trade to discuss the steel supply plan for reconstruction of the earthquake-affected cities on March 2.

Led by the deputy minister of trade, Ö Volkan Agar, the main topic of the meeting was the need for about 5 million tonnes of steel for reconstruction of the region over the course of the next year. Another meeting will be held by the Ministry of Trade on Tuesday March 7.

Domestic prices
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, domestic, exw Turkey was $820-860 per tonne on March 3, rising from $800-850 per tonne on February 24.

Turkish HRC producers were offering the product at $800-870 per tonne ex-works for June production during the week, compared with offers at $800-860 per tonne ex-works last week.

Only one Turkish producer was offering HRC toward the end of the week, while other mills had stopped taking orders, sources said.

The weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, domestic, exw Turkey was $1,000-1,050 per tonne on Friday, unchanged week-on-week.

Turkish CRC producers were offering the product with 1mm thickness at $1,000-1,050 per tonne ex-works during the past seven days.

HRC exports
The export market for Turkish HRC was slow during the past seven days because producers focused on meeting local demand.

Offers were at $820-830 per tonne FOB for HRC.

As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel HRC, export, fob main port Turkey was $820-830 per tonne on March 3, rising from $810-820 per tonne on February 24.

Import prices
China sold HRC at $710 per tonne CFR Turkey for late April shipping and increased its offer price to $725-730 per tonne CFR Turkey for May shipping.

Russia sold HRC at $770 per tonne CFR Turkey. Egypt sold over 30,000 tonnes of HRC to Turkey at $800-810 per tonne CFR during the week.

Russia`s NLMK did not offer any new quantities of HRC for May shipment in the week to Friday, but the company is planning to offer material at about $815-820 per tonne CFR Turkey, sources said.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel HRC, import, cfr main port Turkey was $710-800 per tonne on Friday, rising from $690-760 per tonne on February 24.

China CRC was on offer at $790 per tonne CFR.

Market participants indicated that Russian CRC offers would be about $880 per tonne CFR, an increase in line with HRC prices.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel CRC import, CFR main port Turkey was $790-880 per tonne on March 3, rising from $800-850 per tonne on February 24.

Published by: Serife Durmus

3 Mar 2023