Demand for flat steel products in Turkey was moderate in January because of the expectation that prices would go down, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday, February 6.
Sources added that local producers have now filled their order books until early April.
Local demand was strong in Turkey in December because of increasing prices, but failed to improve in January because of globally decreasing prices for scrap and raw materials.
Fastmarkets' daily index for
steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, was $258.78 per tonne on February 5, down from $304.67 per tonne on January 6.
Other Turkish export markets were also slow in January because of quota limitations and the expectation for lower prices.
The European Commission decided on October 26 to
set a limit of 30% of the overall total for any country exporting hot-rolled (HR) flat steel to Europe.
Crude steel output
Turkey produced 33.7 million tonnes of crude steel in January-December 2019, down by 9.68% from 37.31 million tonnes in the corresponding months...