Launch of price assessment for steel slab, import, cfr Turkey

After consultation, Fastmarkets has launched this weekly price assessment.

Turkish hot-rolled coil producers already have capacity installed for slab production, but numerous mills can also produce billet and their end product includes long steel as well. As a result, the installed capacity is not always sufficient to produce slab to be used for HRC production and they import slab instead.

In addition, the production cost for crude steel is high in the country, and using imported slab for HRC production is occasionally more profitable than producing slab.

Demand for flat steel was weak in June but picked up in July, with prices increasing.

Russia and Ukraine were regular exporters of slab to Turkey until 2022, but the war between those countries has resulted in the need for Turkish importers tp find other sources. Turkey now imports slab from countries including Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, as well as other origins.

In Turkey, there is 22.4% import duty on slab, but Malaysian material is exempt from this because of the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries.

And importers of slab which export their finished product are also exempt from the duty provided they have Turkey’s Inward Processing Regime Certification.

The specifications for the new price assessment are as follows:

MB-STE-0938 steel slab import, cfr Turkey, $ per tonne
Quality: Width 1,250-1,530mm, thickness 200-220mm, length 6,000-12,000mm, grades S235 JR, dd11
Quantity: 10,000-30,000 tonnes
Location: cfr Turkey
Timing: 4-8 weeks
Unit: USD per tonne
Payment terms: LC at sight, cash in Turkish lira after vessel arrival
Publication: Weekly; Friday, 2-3pm London time.

This price will be part of the Fastmarkets steel package.

To provide feedback on this price, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this price, please contact Şerife Durmuş by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Şerife Durmuş, re: steel slab import, cfr Turkey.”

Please indicate if comments are confidential. Fastmarkets will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.

To see all Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents, go to https://www.fastmarkets.com/methodology.