Turkey imported about 700,000 tonnes of steel slab from Brazil, Russia and Ukraine in 2019, according to the International Steel Statistics Bureau (ISSB). The corresponding tonnage was more than 1.5 million tonnes in 2020 and had already exceeded that in January-July 2021, reaching 1.54 million tonnes in those seven months, according to ISSB.
Those three countries were the main sources of slab imports into Turkey.
The buyers of this material were flat steel producers in Turkey, namely Erdemir, Isdemir, Çolakoglu, Habas and Tosyali. Of those, Isdemir, Çolakoglu, Habas and Tosyali have capacity to produce both long and flat steel products.
There has been speculation in the Turkish market whether other steel producers in the country would invest in hot-rolled coil production in the near future, which would mean an increase in the country’s slab consumption, sources told Fastmarkets.
Based on market feedback, however, Fastmarkets proposes to change the publishing frequency of the assessment to fortnightly, rather than the original proposal to publish weekly.
Following initial feedback, Fastmarkets has amended the proposed specification for the new price assessment as follows, with the amendment in italics:
Steel slab, import, cfr main ports Turkey, $ per tonne
Quality: Width 1,250-2,100mm, thickness 220-270mm, length 6,000-12,000mm
Quantity: Minimum 20,000 tonnes
Location: cfr Turkey ports
Timing: 8-12 weeks
Unit: USD per tonne
Payment terms: Letter of credit, payment upon delivery
Publication: Fortnightly; second and fourth Wednesdays of every month, 2-3pm London time.
The extended consultation period for this proposed launch starts on Tuesday January 4, 2022, and will now end on Monday February 7. The launch will then take place, subject to market feedback, on February 9.
To provide feedback on this proposed launch, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this proposed price, please contact Serife Durmus by email at pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Serife Durmus, re: Turkey steel slab import price.’
To see all Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents, go to https://www.fastmarkets.com/about-us/methodology.