All deep sea scrap transaction prices heard last week in Turkey were from deals concluded in the previous week, while all new import scrap transactions concluded last week were for short sea scrap. Additionally, Turkish steel producers are seen to be exerting downward pressure on the prices of deep sea scrap suppliers, basing their requests for lower prices on the price levels recorded in short sea scrap deals.
The latest deep sea scrap deal in Turkey was concluded the week before last at $265-267/mt CFR. No new deep sea scrap booking was concluded last week, while ex-Baltic HMS I/II 80:20 scrap offers were in the range of $265-267/mt CFR but failed to gain acceptance from Turkish steel producers. On the other hand, Turkish steel producers also failed to achieve their target purchase price levels for deep sea scrap last week and so they concluded short sea scrap bookings instead. Last week, short sea HMS I/II 80:20 scrap deals were concluded at $246-249/mt CFR Turkey, depending on the region of origin, causing Turkish steel mills to expect lower prices for deep sea HMS I/II 80:20 scrap.
In the current week, import scrap offers are scarce in Turkey. Although deep sea scrap suppliers have not yet reduced their HMS I/II 80:20 scrap offers to Turkey lower than $260/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has been informed that Turkish steelmakers' price ideas for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap do not exceed $250-255/mt CFR.
The ongoing downward trend of Chinese steel export prices continues to exert pressure on global steel prices, while demand in the global steel market has slowed significantly as buyers have started to postpone their purchases for as long as they can. Additionally, demand in the local Turkish finished steel market has failed to improve and is still at low levels due to the ongoing appreciation of the Turkish lira against the US dollar.
While market players are observing the influence of the rises seen in the stock markets across the globe on the commodity markets, they are also keeping a close eye on developments in China.