Turkey’s exports of hot-dip galvanized coil fell over January-November, especially in the second half of 2022, the latest Turkish Statistical Institute data shared with S&P Global Commodity Insights showed, amid the imposition of the antidumping duty by the European Commission on Turkish HDG imports in August and lower demand stemming from recessionary concerns.
Turkey’s coated steel coil exports, mostly HDG coil, fell 34% year on year to 1.43 million mt over January-November, the data showed.
Exports to Spain fell 75% on the year to 143,300 mt, while shipments to Romania remained relatively stable at 128,200 mt. Supplies to Greece and Italy declined 12% and 60% on the year to 94,600 mt and 73,400 mt, respectively, over the same period.
Similarly, on a year-on-year basis, shipments to Portugal and Belgium fell 70% to 45,000 mt and 80% to 43,600 mt, respectively.
Exports to the US also declined 8% on the year to 128,000 mt, and other export destinations for the period included Canada at 57,000 mt and Egypt at 55,000 mt.
According to a large Turkish service center manager, the antidumping duty on Turkish HDG has affected Turkey’s competitiveness in the EU market, and there could be some downward correction in Turkish offers in the coming days.
“The sharp rise seen in Turkish mills’ HDG offers amid high scrap and energy costs in recent days has also harmed the Turkish mills’ competitiveness,” the manager added.
“The gap between Turkish suppliers and rival HDG offers to the EU reached $60-$70/mt EXW as Turkish mills’ 0.50 mm thick 100 mg zinc coated HDG offers reached $1,000/mt EXW [recently],” the manager said.
“Mills’ CRC offers to the market remained in the range of $860-$890/mt EXW,” he said, adding that lower South Korea-origin CRC offers at $820/mt CFR had been continuing to put pressure on domestic pricing.
A producer source also confirmed Turkish HDG and CRC prices were at $1,000/mt EXW and $860/mt EXW, respectively, amid slow demand.
Platts, part of S&P Global, assessed the weekly Turkish domestic HDG price at $950/mt EXW Jan. 20, down from the intra-year high of $1,400/mt in mid-March 2022.
— Cenk Can
