Turkey’s import scrap market has started to be characterized by more bearish sentiments this week, while sporadic deals have indicated slight decreases in prices. While supply and demand are still balanced amid another wave of cold weather in the US and the relative stability of the euro-dollar exchange rate, the interest shown by Turkish mills in scrap is still on the low side.
Although the information was subsequently denied, an ex-Netherlands cargo rumored to have been bought by a Marmara-based Turkish steel producer supported the market mood. Yesterday, February 24, it was heard that ex-Netherlands HMS I/II 80:20 scrap was bought at $365/mt CFR, $4/mt lower than the previous levels. This price and the deal itself were denied by the supposed seller, but most market sources believe that this is the new workable level for ex-EU scrap. SteelOrbis, considering the stronger downward tendency in the deep sea scrap market, has revised its ex-UK/EU, ex-Baltic and ex-US scrap prices to $365-366/mt CFR, $369-371/mt CFR and $370-372mt CFR, respectively, lowering them by only $3/mt due to the lack of confirmed deals.
While market sources report that the number of offers shared with Turkey has dropped over the past week and that there are currently five offers in the market, the number is expected to increase in the coming period. The euro-dollar exchange rate is relatively stable at around 1.177, despite rising to 1.18 recently, while fluctuations in the exchange rate cause changes in scrap exporters’ prices. The local EU scrap market has also followed an upward trend during February, as SteelOrbis has reported, and this supports the stable trend in the export segment. Turkish mills are clearly showing resistance to the current levels and would be more comfortable if they could push deep sea scrap prices down further. As local rebar demand has not recovered in Turkey, domestic rebar prices continue their soft trend, while the margins of mills remain very low. Official rebar offers for cash payment in the Marmara and Izmir regions, including İçdaş' prices, have settled at $545-560/mt ex-works, down by $5/mt compared to February 19, while acceptable prices have also indicated a decrease of $5/mt, to $540-555/mt ex-works, for cash payment, over the same period. Consequently, local 12 mm rebar prices in the spot market are now in the range of TRY 28,400-28,900/mt ($540-549/mt) ex-warehouse, depending on the region, with the exchange rate at $1 = TRY 43.83.
