Turkish steelmaker MMK Turkey plans to restart its electric arc furnace (EAF) in the middle of February, depending on market conditions.
The company will source hot-rolled coil (HRC) to feed its galvanising line from MMK Russia — low Turkish demand and high scrap prices meant it was unprofitable for the producer to continue producing HRC.
Offers from Novorossiysk were last heard around $540/t fob, but are expected to rise amid strong Russian domestic demand. Three Russian steelmakers have said over the past week they intend to increase prices for January shipments, as they are able to obtain higher prices in the Russian market.
Meanwhile, Turkish mills were heard today at an industry event in Istanbul to have raised HRC offers owing to the increase in scrap prices. Yesterday, the Argus HMS 1/2 80:20 scrap assessment rose by $6/t to $366/t cfr Turkey.
As a result, Turkish mills are now targeting HRC sales at $640-660/t ex-works, up from offers last week at $620-640/t ex-works and workable levels between $610-620/t ex-works.
There has been a broad-based push to increase prices from global producers in the last few days. In the US, Cleveland-Cliffs and US Steel both announced sheet price hikes in the last few days, while Arvedi in Italy is also mulling increases after dropping prices to import parity levels — and even below — to make sales. It is expected other European mills may announce increases before the Christmas break begins.
