According to market sources, a producer in Turkey's Iskenderun region which had opened a scrap tender on February 26 closed the tender after concluding an ex-St. Petersburg deal for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap at $251.75/mt CFR, for shipment in March, indicating an increase of $5-6/mt compared to import scrap deals concluded in Turkey last week. After this deal, market players developed expectations that Turkish producers would accelerate their negotiations with suppliers in order to meet their scrap needs.
Turkey's import scrap market has made a very quiet start to the current week in terms of transaction activity, while, as expected, Turkish producers have stepped up their negotiations with scrap suppliers. As for the coming week, the current negotiations may result in new scrap transactions. SteelOrbis has been informed that Turkish producers are still seeking lower prices, while in particular Baltic-based suppliers, which had been expected to conclude new deals, are determined to keep their prices above $250-255/mt CFR.
Meanwhile, the increasing trend of scrap prices was reflected rapidly in prices in finished steel markets, with Turkish steel producers testing the market by revising their export prices upwards. Even though there has not yet been any improvement in Turkish finished steel sales at the revised price levels, it is certain that finished steel demand is the factor which determines whether import scrap prices will continue to rise. However, the improvements in the import scrap market and any possible recovery in the finished steel market are not likely to continue over a long period, as we have predicted in our Orbis Turkish Scrap Forecaster for March 2015.