Turkish mills have intensified short-sea scrap purchases, partly aiming to slow down the price upturn in the deep-sea import scrap segment and also due to being almost done with large cargo bookings for March shipments. Most sellers have managed to increase their deal prices amid higher demand.
Ex-Adriatic HMS I/II 80:20 scrap was sold to Turkey within the $268-272/mt CFR range, mainly to the Marmara and Izmir regions. Sellers from Romania have been trading the same grade at $270-273/mt CFR levels, SteelOrbis has learned.
In addition, a couple of ex-Rostov HMS I/II 90:10 scrap lots have been recently sold to the Marmara region at as high as $283/mt CFR, which exceeds the latest transaction levels for the deep-sea cargoes.
Sellers of ex-Israeli HMS I/II 75:25 scrap managed to achieve earlier targeted deal prices. At least 4,000 mt were sold to Turkey’s Iskenderun region at $260/mt CFR. In addition, some lots were sold at $263/mt CFR; sources assume that those were traded to Izmir region.
Market players say it has been a hectic week for the short-sea scrap sellers, which have managed to achieve higher levels in deals with Turkish mills. According to some estimations, Turkey may have booked at least 40,000 mt of various short-sea scrap within the week. “Prices for short-sea increased from $2/mt to over $5-6/mt from the previous levels, reaching or exceeding the deep-sea levels even. It is beyond the logic, but it is what it is,” a trader told SteelOrbis.
