Ex-deep sea scrap demand still poor in Turkey

The Turkish import scrap market has remained very quiet in the past two weeks. No ex-US scrap offers have been heard since the beginning of the current month, while only two ex-deep sea scrap transactions to Turkey have been reported last week, one from Europe and other one from St. Petersburg. In the ex-Europe scrap booking, the price of 14,000 mt of HMS I/II 75:25 was at $351/mt CFR Turkey and the price of 18,000 mt of P&S scrap was at $372/mt CFR, while in the ex-St Petersburg deal 30,000 mt of HMS I/II 85:15 was priced at $356/mt CFR Turkey. Turkish steel mills are not in a hurry to conclude fresh scrap bookings as their scrap inventories are still at sufficient levels. However, market sources think that Turkish steelmakers may start their scrap purchases for April towards the end of the current month and that scrap bookings may revive eventually.
 
On the other hand, with iron ore prices dropping $12/mt within a week, declining to $105/mt CFR for 63.5 percent iron content, the downtrend in Chinese finished steel export prices is expected to continue. Moreover, it is also thought that lower Chinese finished steel export prices may further weaken foreign demand for Turkish finished steel export offers.
 
Although the general expectation in the marketplace suggests that US scrap suppliers will make upward adjustments in their scrap offers to Turkish steel mills, higher scrap offers may not find enough support to gain acceptance if the pessimistic outlook for Turkey's finished steel exports prevails.