Some old and some relatively new deals have been disclosed to the Turkish import scrap market today, April 19.
SteelOrbis has heard that an Izmir-based producer has concluded three ex-Europe deals, from Netherlands and Germany with HMS I/II 80:20 scrap prices at $416/mt CFR, $417/mt CFR and $420/mt CFR, respectively, all for June shipments. These transactions have not been confirmed by the buyer or the seller but widely believed to be done by market players. Previous to these deals, estimated price for European HMS I/II 80:20 scrap was in the range of $420-425/mt CFR Turkey.
Meanwhile, an Iskenderun-based steelmaker bought a cargo from Venezuela on Friday, April 16, for 25,000 mt of HMS I/II 80:20 scrap at $415.5/mt CFR Turkey, for May shipment.
An ex-Denmark deal is also believed to be done by an Iskenderun-based mill in the middle of last week with benchmark HMS I/II 80:20 scrap quotations standing in the range of $425-430/mt CFR Turkey, though a concrete confirmation was not shared for this cargo. Before this deal, ex-Baltic HMS I/II 80:20 scrap prices were estimated to be in the range of $425-430/mt CFR.
Also, another ex-Baltic deal was disclosed to the market today but SteelOrbis has learned that this booking was done by an Iskenderun based mill two weeks ago. The HMS I/II 80:20 scrap price in the deal mentioned was at $422/mt CFR and this price level is now considered old as a new one was closed.
SteelOrbis has observed diverse ideas in the market about the future price trend. Some market players state that price inquiries for deep sea cargoes have accelerated and there are strong signals that prices will rebound from the current levels, or at least not soften further. On the other hand, some market players insist that there are a high number of offers in the market, still exerting pressure on deep sea scrap quotations, which will eventually result on lower price levels. The sellers from the US and Europe state that collection prices for scrap has increased over the past days. SteelOrbis understands that some European sellers have maintained a more cautious stance due to their expectations of firm to higher price levels. There are still some allocation problems reported from the European side for busheling and bonus grades. Some US sellers are out of the market after selling to other countries. Both the US-based and European sellers state that there is scrap demand from other regions, even with more advantageous quotations. However, a Turkish steel producer states that the number of offers in the market is enough to cover for Turkey’s deep sea needs both for late-May and early-June, though they believe the bottom is very close in terms of prices. Additionally, a Baltic origin scrap seller has voiced his price expectations for this week in the range of $415-425/mt CFR for deep sea HMS I/II 80:20 scrap. SteelOrbis anticipates new bookings to be heard towards Wednesday, April 21.