Turkish mills to object to EC’s antidumping decision on HDG imports

Turkish hot-dipped galvanized coil producers will object to the European Commission’s decision May 10 to impose definitive antidumping duties on HDG imports into the EU from Russia and Turkey, sources told S&P Global Commodity Insights May 17.

One of the producer sources said they have already filed an appeal with the commission.

“A negotiation with the EC will be held on Friday this week. We will express our objections to the Commission decision. We are hoping that the duty rate will be removed following this negotiation, as we are thinking that our dumping rate [was] calculated wrongly by taking into account … our galvalume exports in that period,” the source said.

A manager of another Turkish coated coil producer said all of the Turkish coated coil producers will object to the commission’s decision soon, adding that they expect the commission to change the decision in favor of Turkish mills.

The definitive antidumping duty rates, expressed by the EC on the CIF Union border price, customs duty unpaid, were put on Turkish producers as follows on May 10: MMK Metalurji 10.6%, Tat Metal 2.4%, Tezcan Galvaniz 11.0%, other cooperating Turkish companies 8.0% and all other Turkish companies 11.0%.

Interested parties are being granted a period within which they can make representations subsequent to the EC’s latest disclosure.

The dumping duty decision by the EC has raised the price pressure and uncertainties in a sluggish market environment, and has widened a large Turkish coated coil producer’s hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated coil discounts to other domestic mill offers, a producer source said.

According to an advertisement published in some newspapers on May 15, the company has started offering hot-rolled coil at $799-$829/mt EXW, cold-rolled coil and hot-dip galvanized coil at $899/mt EXW and color-coated coil at $999/mt, notably lower than other domestic mill offer prices.

Confirming this, a source at the company told S&P Global that the aim is to reduce their stocks.

“The [summer] promotion received notable interest from the market. There is a daily maximum amount of 100 mt on each booking. However, buyers could book 100 mt every day until the end of the promotion,” the source said May 17.

Although other Turkish mills didn’t pull down their HDG offer prices to the same extent, a manager of a large Turkish coated coil producer said 0.50 mm thick HDG prices could be available at $960-$970/mt EXW for large tonnages, a more than a $50/mt decline on the week.

S&P Global Commodity Insights’ weekly assessment for 0.50 mm thick HDG was at $1,030/mt EXW on May 13.

A service center manager said he had received an offer for 2 mm thick HDG from a Turkish producer at $920/mt on May 16, adding that due to the sharp decline seen in prices, some traders have started to face serious losses.

The manager expects prices to rebound in the coming weeks with the return of Chinese mills with higher prices.

“Delayed demand in China during COVID-19 lockdowns could support prices,” he observed.

— Cenk Can