Singapore — Offers for Turkey-origin hot-rolled coils have started to appear in Asia's HRC market this week, pricing at around $10-15/mt below Chinese material. However, Chinese HRC exports have not see much impact from the new competition from Turkey. The plunge in the Turkish Lira was cited as the main reason behind the emergence of Turkish material in Asia.
However, most Chinese market players believed that this could not become a repeatable trade flow, due to limited volumes and uncertain quality as well as the shipment timings. Therefore, regional prices are unlikely to be pressured much.
In China, many steel mills released their weekly HRC export offers on Tuesday, with offer levels slightly higher on the week at $577-590/mt FOB China for SS400 grade coils for October shipment.
"I haven't heard any Chinese mills reacted to the competition from Turkish material," said a mill source in northeastern China.
"It is difficult for [Turkish mills] to deal big volume suddenly," said a Japanese mill source.
In Vietnam, buying interest was thin and no deals were reported done for Turkish HRC, with buyers heard to be still testing the quality of Turkish material.
They might also be concerned about the shipment timings since, with a mid-to-end November loading, it was a bit too far forward, said a Vietnam-based market source. Most buyers are currently booking October shipment cargoes.
Offers for Turkish SAE1006 2 mm thick HRC were reported at around $583-585/mt CFR Vietnam for mid-November shipment this week. A total of around 20,000-30,000 mt HRC was offered into Vietnam at this level.
With Turkish mills away for a public holiday this week, these offers were mostly from traders that were betting on the lira weakening further, said an trader in eastern China.
