It seems almost impossible to make a comment about the price levels in the Turkish scrap market, where hardly any activity is being observed except for spot purchases. It seems that the Turkish producers, whose stock levels are still currently very high, will continue to stay far away from the scrap markets until their stocks descend below a certain level. Due to the lack of activity in the market, the upper and lower ends of the price ranges have widened.
In the past week, prices have been at $645/mt CFR for HMS I/II 80:20, at $632/mt CFR for HMS I/II 70:30 and at $620/mt CFR for HMS I/II 60:40 in an ex-Europe offer for August shipment. Since these prices have decreased a bit compared to past week, hardly any buyers have been found for them. It is observed in the market (a market where no specific price level has found general acceptance) that some suppliers have been offering at more attractive levels in order to ease their financial situations and/or their stock levels. Meanwhile, other suppliers have not pushed down their prices much since they expect the price trend to start going up again. It is possible that, when a producer eventually decides to purchase, it will be faced with a price range of $640-680/mt CFR for ex-USA HMS I/II 80:20.
It is observed that there are ships off Turkey's Marmara Sea coast loaded with ex-Algeria HMS I/II 70:30 grade scrap waiting to be sold, and it is said that the suppliers in question are in a rush to unload their scrap as soon as possible and that prices are not their main priority any longer. It is heard that these kinds of cargos (which are still waiting to be sold) are varying in the price range of $450-500/mt CFR.
Depending on the position of the supplier, very different price ranges for ex-Black Sea A3 scrap are being heard. Suppliers who wish to sell material rapidly on spot basis can even go down below $585/mt CIF, and some other suppliers have been offering at the price range of $600-620/mt CIF for shipment in the second half of August.
It is expected that, until the Turkish producers return to active purchases of scrap, the current situation of price ambiguity will continue to dominate the market and the price gap between the lowest and highest levels will only widen.