Having started to buy scrap with the arrival of the New Year, Turkish mills have maintained their purchase activity in the past week.
Approximately twenty import scrap cargoes have been concluded to Turkey since the beginning of the year, with most of them being ex-Europe. In these deals, HMS I/II 70:30 scrap has been transacted at $335-341/mt CFR Turkey. In the period in question, ex-US scrap prices for Turkey have seemed to be at higher levels compared to the ex-Europe scrap numbers. In the only ex-US scrap deal heard at the end of last week, the price level of HMS I/II 80:20 was at $348/mt CFR Turkey. The average price level of this cargo (which consisted of 16,000 mt of shredded scrap, 15,000 mt of P&S and 9,000 mt of HMS I/II 80:20) was $354/mt CFR Turkey.
Meanwhile, ex-Black Sea scrap prices have in the past week increased significantly both due to the bad weather conditions and strong demand, while it is heard that the scrap collection price level in Romania has increased to $320/mt. Thus, Turkish mills have lost interest in ex-Romania scrap after its collection price climbed to the above level from $300/mt in just one week. For this reason, a correction has been made in the Romanian scrap collection price, which is now down to $315/mt.
Although scrap prices have not yet gained clarity for the current week, an expectation of a softening in prices has appeared on the mills' side since demand for scrap has slowed down. As the situation in the markets becomes clearer, we will also be able to see whether or not the mills' expectation will become a reality.