Turkish producers lower HRC Steel prices to meet scarce orders

TURKEY January 13 2015 6:11 PM

ANKARA (Scrap Register): Faced with low domestic demand and competitive import offers from the CIS countries and China, Turkish producers lowered their HRC offer prices to $510-520 a ton (ex-works) to meet scarce orders last month. Domestic prices stabilized after the drop, although many of the buyers remained in waiting mode, avoiding building inventories before the expected slowdown around the New Year.

Mills were determined to keep their selling prices above the US$510/t mark, and after losing US$26/t during the course of December, TSI’s Turkish HRC index finished the month at US$510/t (ex-works). Turkish crude steel production in November plunged by 8.6% y-o-y to 2.8 million tons.

Bigger production cuts were implemented by the scrap-based EAF mills, as production there went down by –12% y-o-y, while production via the BOF route decreased only by 0.4% y-o-y. The Turkish Steel Producers Association commented that lower-priced Chinese steel suppressed local mills’ margins, leading to the drop in production.