Deep sea scrap prices in Turkey are still moving up in each deal disclosed to the market. The positive sentiment is supported by the domestic rebar quotations of Turkish mills.
SteelOrbis has learned that a Black Sea-based Turkish mill concluded an ex-UK deal yesterday, February 3, for 20,000 mt of HMS I/II 80:20 scrap at $491/mt CFR, 10,000 mt of shredded scrap at $516/mt CFR and 10,000 mt of bonus grade scrap at $516/mt CFR. The cargo will be shipped in March. Just yesterday, another ex-UK booking was heard at $483/mt CFR. Since the market was expected to continue its uptrend, SteelOrbis’ estimations for ex-EU HMS I/II 80:20 scrap were in the range of $483-485/mt CFR before today’s report.
Turkey’s import scrap market is rising faster than initial expectations. “Prices are now almost at $500/mt CFR Turkey,” a seller said. “With this ex-UK deal, I can easily say that we will record $500/mt next week for prime grades,” he added. However, $500/mt CFR Turkey is a threshold price and usually receives resistance from mills. SteelOrbis thinks the situation will depend on China’s return from its holiday and how many options Turkish mills will have in their finished steel export markets. Also, the willingness of sellers to conclude sales to Turkey after this threshold is reached is important. “If sellers think that producers may resist such prices, the number of offers to Turkey may increase, and this may lead to a stable trend at around $500/mt CFR,” one market player commented. Additionally, Turkish mills will need a lot of deep sea cargoes for March.
