Slab deliveries to Turkey soared, all from Russia

Turkey's slab imports picked up again in February after rising in January, reflecting Turkish flats producers returning to restock after a large order of about 200,000 tonnes of Russian slabs was ordered last October.

Turkish producers returned to restocking around December when slab prices plummeted in response to much lower prices and in anticipation of the lifting of the Russian export duty on ferrous metals from 1 January. Consequently, the offer prices decreased by $100 per ton. This decrease was also supported by the decline in world prices for flat products.

Slabs received in February were ordered below $600/t FOB Black Sea, about $100/t less than the previous month, with the lowest level recorded by Kallanish at $585/t FOB in early January. In addition to Russian slabs, Turkey has also ordered at least one shipment of Brazilian material due in March/April, which was also heavily priced lower due to the fall in US flat steel prices in December. Earlier, in October, a batch of Brazilian materials arrived in January.

Amid falling prices, most of the Russian slabs were also ordered by China at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021. This prompted traditional buyers such as Turkey and Italy to restock and eventually push prices up again starting in January.

From $580-585/t fob Black Sea – $610-615/t cfr Turkey – slab price rose again in early January to $730-750/t cfr Turkey in early February, peaking in early-mid March at $850-750 /t cfr Turkey. 900/t Turkey.

Financial sanctions against Russia and production shutdowns in Ukraine meant that there were very few orders at the time. Buyers in the non-sanctioned regions of Turkey and Asia again pressed for much lower prices and got them (see Kallanish passim). Various materials of Asian origin, including Chinese, have also become available in the Mediterranean, although Turkey is known to still be looking for Russian plates at lower prices.

All Turkish slabs that arrived in February were of Russian origin and amounted to 208,077 tons. Only deliveries from Russia grew by 21.7% compared to the previous month and ten times compared to last year. However, total slab imports in February were down 20.9% from the previous month but up 92% from the same period last year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). Bi-monthly imports of 471,333 tons increased by 68.6% compared to the same period last year.

Source: Kallanish