Depreciation of euro and scrap prices

During the past week, Turkish steel producers have continued their scrap purchases, with prices remaining at their previous levels. However, the steep deprecation of the euro against the US dollar since early this week is providing a better pricing advantage for European scrap suppliers, letting them reduce their prices on US dollar basis to more competitive levels.
 
In the past week, in Turkish scrap bookings ex-Europe, HMS I/II 70:30 scrap prices have been at $439-442/mt CFR, while HMS I/II 80:20 scrap prices were at $461-462/mt CFR. Lately, Turkish mills had preferred ex-US scrap to ex-Europe scrap and the price gap between these two had widened. However, following the recent weakening of the euro against the US dollar, Turkish mills' scrap booking activity from Europe may increase, due to the significant pricing advantage that European suppliers will gain.
 
On the other hand, in last week's ex-US scrap bookings, prices were observed to continue the sideways trend of the last few months. For the current week, the ex-US HMS I/II 80:20 scrap price for Turkey is expected to stand at $470-475/mt CFR. However, if European scrap suppliers reduce their prices, this may also exert downward pressure on ex-US scrap prices.
 
As for ex-Black Sea scrap prices, some ex-Romania and Russia A3 scrap bookings have been heard recently in Turkey at $455/mt CFR Marmara Sea ports. With scrap collection prices in Romania trending at about $425/mt, Romanian scrap suppliers are now forced to offer scrap to Turkey below the price level of $460/mt CFR. However, Turkish mills are currently not accepting prices above $455/mt Marmara Sea. In the meantime, the high trending freight rates are still affecting the scrap market in the Black Sea basin.