An ex-Scandinavia scrap booking from the end of last week was disclosed to the market today, March 21 with the benchmark HMS I/II 80:20 scrap standing in the expected price range.
SteelOrbis has learned that an Izmir-based steel mill has concluded the booking from Denmark for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap at $655/mt CFR and for shredded scrap at $680/mt CFR. No further details about the deal have been shared by the time of publication. Prior to this transaction, SteelOrbis’ prices for ex-Baltic scrap were in the range of $648-658/mt CFR, with both ends of the range seen in deals done last week.
“Sentiment in Turkey’s import scrap market is changing on a daily basis,” a seller commented. The position of the buyer and the seller is more important nowadays instead of the general sentiment prevailing in the market. “I do not think prices can go up in the short term,” another seller commented, while another interpreted this ex-Denmark deal to represent an increase in price. “From $648/mt CFR to $655/mt CFR, this is a good sign,” the seller commented. Two suppliers, from the US and the EU, said they believe that Turkish producers will need a lot of scrap in the coming period and so deep sea scrap prices have room to go up after the recent silence.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian mining and steel producing group Metinvest’s subsidiary Azovstal has been damaged in the Russian attack on Mariupol. The plant has an annual production capacity of 5.3 million mt of crude steel. With Ukraine’s steel production capacity being hit hard by the Russian invasion, traditional buyers of Ukrainian steel are searching for alternative suppliers. As SteelOrbis reported in previous reports, Turkish mills are receiving rebar, wire rod and profile demand from some non-traditional markets. In addition, the EU’s recent adjustment of its import quotas has given an advantage to Turkish longs mills since around 25,000 mt of rebar and around 29,000 mt will be added to Turkey’s quotas for the period starting on April 1.
On the other hand, there are some pressures on semi-finished and finished steel prices against the backdrop of lower-priced imports. Turkey’s billet export prices are in the range of $900-920/mt FOB, while India’s offers are at $860/mt CFR and Chinese origin billet is available at $875-880/mt CFR, both to Turkey. A rebar trader in Turkey evaluating the billet quotations report that the lower import billet quotations will not have a significant impact on rebar quotations, since there are some discounts available in the market for serious buyers even though official rebar prices are standing at $950/mt ex-works minimum. As SteelOrbis reported last week, Turkey has sold 15,000 mt of rebar to Senegal at $950/mt FOB, and 10,000 mt of rebar to Estonia at $945/mt FOB. Another 10,000 mt of rebar were traded to Finland at $945/mt FOB. In addition, 2,500 mt of rebar were sold to Macedonia and the Republic of Kosovo at $940/mt FOB. Large European buyers, such as Norway, Denmark, Latvia and Poland, have recently booked 5,000-10,000 mt each from Turkey at $945-960/mt FOB.
