Different expectations cause silence in Turkish scrap market

The scrap markets have remained calm for the last two-three weeks. Expectations of sellers and buyers are still in opposite directions. As we reported in our previous analyses, since the beginning of April, buyers in scrap markets have been waiting for prices to decline; and on the other hand, sellers have been insisting on believing that prices will increase. Turkish steelmakers, willing to conclude purchases at lower prices, failed to find as many offers as they expected, particularly from US and European sources. On the other hand, suppliers, willing to conclude new bookings at higher price levels or at least at the same levels with their last bookings, could not find any buyers for such numbers. This situation is still valid and ongoing in general. On the other hand, market rumor is that Turkish mills are concluding bookings from Romanian, Russian, Georgian and Ukrainian scrap suppliers for small quantities. Price levels of these bookings differ depending on the position of the seller. Bookings concluded so far have been reported in a price range of $238-245/mt CFR Turkish ports. This gives producers the hope that prices would decline further or at least major supplier firms would have to decrease their prices as well. However, scrap markets, especially in the US, maintain their strong position. It is heard that latest HMS I/II 80:20 scrap offers ex-US have been given to Turkish mills at around $261/mt CFR Turkish ports. Turkish mills have not concluded any serious bookings from Europe and US almost as of early April. Therefore, it is not right to quote an exact price level for this kind of scrap cargoes. Perhaps, the first bookings to be concluded will show what the actual market levels are.