This week opened with Turkey’s import scrap prices falling to the threshold of $380/mt CFR on the lower end. Further deals from the US were expected to be signed this week, market sources reported, as they believed it was time for some producers to make inquiries. Multiple available cargoes had been offered from the US since early last week.
Turkey’s sporadic scrap deals continued with two bookings from the UK/EU, reflecting firmer-than-expected market sentiment. While Turkish mills’ appetite for deep sea scrap cargoes has not been so strong this week, they are finding ways to restock gradually and mostly prefer European cargoes. The depreciation of the euro against the US dollar has provided some support for European sellers in the current week. Some European scrap sellers report that the current bids received from Turkish mills at around $380/mt CFR are not acceptable to them. Despite the support from collection costs and the depreciating euro, some sellers do not agree that further price cuts are possible. “Collection at €280/mt DAP is almost impossible. No flow is received at the lower end of the collection bid prices,” a European source said on June 25.
While the deals done late this week first triggered some hope among market players, deep sea scrap prices continued to move down. An ex-France scrap deal closed by an Iskenderun-based producer for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap at $375/mt CFR caused a further slide in prices. At the end of the week, SteelOrbis had information about more than ten available cargoes offered to Turkey, from both sides of Atlantic. While US suppliers are offering at $390/mt CFR, hardly anyone in the market expects them to achieve that price in the coming deals. Turkish mills are maintaining their cautious stance given their number of options, expecting the market to remain a buyer’s market. With the summer holidays approaching in the EU, some sellers need to ensure the cash flow and are lowering their inventory levels. Turkey has been testing the waters for possible ex-US West Coast cargoes, though any offers were even higher than those from the US East Coast, with the higher freight being around $75/mt.
Some short sea deals have also been done this week. A Marmara-based producer has bought an ex-Bulgaria cargo at $348/mt CFR, while Romanian HMS I/II 80:20 scrap was sold at $352/mt CFR. While these deals indicate a very sharp fall for the short sea segment from last week’s $360-365/mt CFR, market sources report that the position short sea scrap sellers find themselves in is dire. Short sea scrap suppliers’ financial positions are not as firm as those of deep sea suppliers, causing them occasionally to bend more easily to buyers’ desires. A source at a Turkish major mill said that their next target for the short sea segment is around $340/mt CFR and there are also more than ten available cargoes in the short sea segment is in the market.
As a result, the initial expectation that deep sea scrap prices were getting closer to the bottom has disappeared by the end of the current week, triggering negative sentiments once again amongst market players. Some sources note that demand in Turkey is not following the usual seasonal trend for the seventh week now and is giving no signals of a recovery yet. Unless the difficulties in the local and export steel markets are resolved, no support is expected from steel demand in the short term. Tehe gap between ex-UK/EU and ex-US scrap prices is currently more than usual due to the lack of an ex-US booking, while the gap between short sea and deep sea scrap prices is likewise wider than it usually is.
Prices in the US domestic ferrous scrap market could see a small increase in July, by the range of $10-20/gt for prime grades, while projections for obsoletes remain sideways. Trading is expected to begin after the 4th of July, US Independence Day holiday. The US steel sector continues its productive pace; the installed capacity utilization rate breached 80 percent for the eighth consecutive week, according to data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), a feat not seen in years. Likewise, weekly production has exceeded 1.8 million nt for thirteen consecutive weeks, a feat reached only once in 2025.
Bulk scrap prices for the export market on the US West Coast (USWC) remained unchanged for another week, yet contacts expect drops to come into effect as soon as next week due to the soft Asian scrap import market. In the meantime, containerized scrap prices on the US West Coast continue to fall, and the downward trend is not expected to stop any time soon. Prices for containerized scrap on the US West Coast fell for the fifth consecutive week as the Asian import scrap market has shown tempered demand. The price of HMS I/II 80:20 fell to $325-328/mt FAS Long Beach port from $330/mt FAS last week, the price of P&S 5ft decreased by $5/mt to $340-345/mt FAS, and shredded fell to $345-363/mt FAS from $350-355/mt FAS last week.
Ferrous scrap prices to the US East Coast docks softened slightly on Tuesday as the higher end of the price ranges decreased. In the meantime, the price of HMS I to New York and Philadelphia docks fell to $270-280/gt delivered export yard from $270-290/gt delivered last week. P&S 5ft fell on the higher end to $290-300/gt delivered from $290-310/gt delivered last week. Shredder feed followed a similar trend, contracting by $5/gt on the higher end in deals to $220-225/gt delivered from $220-230/gt delivered last week.
Mexico’s scrap prices in the domestic market decreased this week, but not by as much as mills would have liked. Prices fell by MXN200/mt for most grades in the Bajio region, and by MXN100-300/mt ($5.77-17.31/mt) in the central region. In the north, they were unchanged.
In the northern region of Mexico, prices remained unchanged at MXN7,900/mt ($456/mt) delivered consumer for #1 busheling, MXN6,000/mt ($346/mt) delivered for HMS I, MXN7,000/mt ($404/mt) delivered for P&S 5ft, MXN7,900/mt ($456/mt) delivered for shredded, and at MXN5,100/mt ($294/mt) delivered for machine shop turnings (MST).
The Italian scrap market has shown further signs of a slowdown this week, with limited trading activity despite additional price cuts introduced by some steel producers.
Overall, the market continues to lack momentum on both the buying and selling sides. Mills have reduced their scrap purchase prices by €5-25/mt depending on the producer and grade, yet these adjustments have failed to generate significant transaction volumes.
Against this backdrop, domestic scrap prices in Italy have moved down slightly. This week, E1 scrap prices have been assessed at an average of €280-290/mt delivered, down €5-10/mt compared to the previous levels reported by SteelOrbis.
The domestic scrap market in Poland has remained almost stable in the past week, while the export market has shown some declines compared to the last levels recorded.
According to the latest data published by IPHGZ, the average scrap purchase price for delivery to yards in June has reached PLN 1,123/mt (approx. €262/mt) for W2 scrap (equivalent to HMS I) and PLN 1,165/mt (approx. €272/mt) for W7 scrap (equivalent to bonus), respectively down by PLN 33/mt (€8/mt) and PLN 65/mt (€15/mt) compared to May.
Finally, Polish scrap export prices have gone from the long-term stability at around €292-295/mt DAP for HMS I to about €280/mt DAP for the same grade.
The German scrap market in June has remained predominantly stable despite mills’ attempts to reduce scrap purchase prices. The low water levels of the Rhine caused by rising temperatures in summer keep transport costs high.
In the first 20 days of June, the changes recorded by BDSV have been reported in a range of - €2.9/mt to €2.0/mt, with E1 reference scrap prices shifting from €273.9/mt to €274.8/mt on average.
The leading Japanese EAF-based steel producer Tokyo Steel has cut its local scrap purchase prices today, June 26, only in the Tokyo Bay region. This is the producer’s second price revision this week, following the price cut on June 24 for the Kyushu region.
Tokyo Steel’s general price range for H2 grade scrap has moved down by JPY 500/mt on the lower end as compared to the levels recorded on May 22 to JPY 53,000-54,000/mt ($328-334/mt) depending on the mill.
Import scrap prices in Taiwan have continued to move down this week in ex-US offers and deals. SteelOrbis hears that US-based suppliers have started to show some resistance to the current price levels and are unwilling to sell large tonnages at the new price levels amid the sideways movement of the local US scrap market during the June buy-cycle.
Offer prices for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers to Taiwan have moved to $343-348/mt CFR from the $352/mt CFR level recorded last week. Japanese suppliers have remained out of the market, sharing no offers with Taiwan this week. “Tokyo Bay and Tokyo Steel prices have declined slightly this week. Japanese bulk quotations are still expected to decrease,” a Taiwanese source reported.
As the downward pressure in the international scrap market continues, the situation in Vietnam has not changed much over the past week. “Vietnam’s construction sector is also under pressure amid increasing prices for some materials such as cement and sand, though the declines in rebar prices are helping,” a source reported
Offers from the US West Coast to Vietnam for bulk HMS I/II 80:20 scrap are at $390/mt CFR, down by $10/mt. There have been no deals done from the US West Coast to Vietnam this week, sources report. According to sources, Vietnam bought ex-Japan H2 grade scrap at $370/mt CFR, moving sideways week on week. Market sources report that freight from Japan to Vietnam declined by approximately $7/mt to $38/mt and left Japanese suppliers some margins.
Pakistan’s import scrap market has remained under pressure this week, with trading activity slowing further as buyers have limited purchases to urgent requirements ahead of the Ashura holiday. More specifically, ex-UK/EU shredded scrap has been traded at around $413/mt CFR Qasim this week, slightly below the $415-417/mt CFR transaction levels heard last week. According to sources, the latest confirmed deal was concluded on June 25 for 500 mt, while another 1,500 mt cargo was still under negotiation at the time of writing. Meanwhile, lower indications at around $398-410/mt CFR have so far been heard mainly as buyers’ targets rather than as confirmed tradable levels, amid expectations of a further correction after Ashura on June 26. “The market is very slow, and buying is limited only to urgent requirements,” a Pakistani trader told SteelOrbis. Market sources have indicated that the recent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz has eased pressure on sentiments, as concerns over supply disruptions and higher freight costs have been reduced.
Bangladesh’s import scrap market is still not active with the price gaps between offers and bids being fairly high, up to $10-15/mt CFR. In terms of prices, shredded scrap offers have remained stable, but HMS prices have been corrected down, in line with expectations. More specifically, ex-UK/EU HMS I/II 80:20 scrap in containers has been heard at around $375/mt CFR Chattogram this week, compared to around $378/mt CFR Chattogram last week. Meanwhile, ex-UK/EU shredded scrap in containers has been heard at around $405-406/mt CFR Chattogram, remaining broadly in line with the levels observed last week. As for ex-Australia material, HMS I/II 80:20 scrap in containers has been offered at around $380/mt CFR Chattogram this week, while bids have been heard at around $365/mt CFR Chattogram. On the US side, HMS I/II 80:20 scrap in bulk has been offered at $405-410/mt CFR Bangladesh this week, broadly in line with the latest available reference for ex-US West Coast HMS scrap offers heard two weeks ago. Trading activity has remained very slow, while restricted access to trade financing and uncertainty over possible tax and duty increases under the FY 2026-27 budget have continued to weigh on procurement decisions.
