At the SteelOrbis 2018 Fall Conference & 79th IREPAS Meeting held in Istanbul on September 16-18, Jens Björkman from Stena Metal International, the chairman of the raw material suppliers committee, said that a record number of 84 representatives from raw material suppliers attended the conference this year.
Mr. Björkman said that ferrous scrap prices have seen some volatility in the past months but generally the scrap market is building on a positive trend. He added that, with Chinese domestic steel consumption rising and better capacity utilization rates around the world, raw material suppliers have been enjoying stronger scrap demand. Regarding the scrap destinations, the raw material suppliers committee chairman said that there has been growth seen in demand from Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico and Bangladesh.
According to Mr. Björkman, due to import tariffs in the US, scrap demand in the US domestic market has been stronger and, while scrap prices in the US dropped by $20/mt in September, they are likely to rebound in October. Regarding the import quotas in the EU, Mr. Björkman said that this has also resulted in improved demand in the domestic market. As a consequence, scrap supply has tightened slightly and volumes set aside for export have decreased. However, he stressed that uncertainty exists regarding the future of the trade measures in the EU as they have a February deadline.
The Stena official said that inflation and the devaluation of the currency in Turkey, the epicenter of the scrap universe, slowed down Turkish domestic demand for steel products, though lately steel exports have kept production at elevated levels and Turkish demand for scrap has been maintained. He stated that the possibility of a slowing down in scrap demand in Turkey will potentially have a negative impact on scrap prices.
