The Turkish scrap market was very calm during last week, with Turkish mills preferring to delay their scrap purchases in spite of active long product sales. Even the mills which generally perform scrap purchases on a regular basis all decided to bypass last week. The main reason behind this suspension of scrap purchases was observed to be the congestion at the mills' ports. As a result, on the one hand the mills even turned down many small tonnage vessel offers and, on the other hand, suppliers, who do not want to lose money on demurrage, had to reduce their prices before concluding sales.
In addition to ex-Black Sea A3 grade scrap, "short sea" scrap suppliers such as those in Algeria and Israel were the ones most affected by the abovementioned situation. It was seen that the suppliers who had cargoes aboard ship or who had previously taken position or waited for spot sales, dropped their prices by a considerable margin. Offers for ex-Black Sea A3 grade scrap, which under normal market conditions vary in a range of $685-695/mt CIF Iskenderun, did not hold much attraction for Turkish mills.
In last week's only scrap booking heard to have been concluded ex-deep sea, HMS I/II 80:20 scrap was booked at the level of $722/mt CIF Iskenderun, whereas P&S scrap found a buyer at the level of $732/mt CIF Iskenderun.
In the US, as regards July there is a prevalent expectation for an increase in prices for cut grade scrap, which have indicated a drop in June. Meanwhile, Europe has not exported scrap for a long time and available scrap in the region is being sold in the domestic market due to the strong demand. As regards Turkey, since there is no demand for now, ex-Europe and ex-US scrap offers do not exist.
With the strong demand from Gulf countries, longs prices are reaching new record-breaking levels with each passing day and are approaching $1,500/mt CFR Dubai. Although the month of September has almost been booked out in terms of longs sales, it is expected that the Turkish mills, who are currently holding back on their scrap bookings, will return to the market for purchases as soon as they resolve the problem of congestion at their ports.