The uptrend of deep sea prime grade scrap prices for Turkey has continued with an ex-Belgium deal disclosed to the market today, November 23.
A steelmaker in Turkey’s Marmara region has bought an ex-Belgium cargo consisting of 25,000 mt of HMS I/II 75:25 scrap, 10,000 mt of shredded scrap and 5,000 mt of bonus grade scrap at the average price level of $332,5/mt CFR, for shipment in the first half of January. As the HMS I/II 75:25 scrap price in the deal is estimated to be at $327-328/mt CFR Turkey, the indicative price for the benchmark HMS I/II 80:20 scrap is at $332-333/mt CFR. Prior to this deal, the most recent ex-Belgium booking was closed at around $330/mt CFR for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap, while an ex-UK deal signaled the level of $335/mt CFR for the same grade at the end of last week.
Turkish mills have started their scrap bookings for January shipments and have few openings left for December shipments, market sources state. Demand for deep sea scrap continues in Turkey as a result of Turkish producers’ steel export sales and is expected to push scrap prices up further.