While Turkish mills have maintained their slow procurement pace, deep sea scrap prices in the country have remained in the same range. While number of sellers in the market is not high, one would interpret the current condition in the market as balanced. The struggle in mills’ sales departments continue, particularly on the rebar segment.
As SteelOrbis mentioned earlier this week, European scrap export yards are still paying €250/mt DAP for collection. As Europe is in a deep holiday mood, trade is sluggish. A Germany-based source said today that local prices in the country have already declined by €10-20/mt. The depreciation of the euro against the US dollar may give some room to the European scrap suppliers, though it is not much. Also, it cannot be fully said the volatility of the euro-dollar rate has ended for good.
Under the current conditions, the deep sea benchmark HMS I/II 80:20 scrap prices in CFR terms have remained stable week on week. The prices are now 1.55 percent higher month on month in the deep sea segment, with prices being in the range of $340.5-347/mt CFR.
August scrap pricing is seen unchanged at sideways to July settles this week, though scrap price stability next month could hinge on whether US President Trump decides to follow through on recent threats to tariff Brazilian pig iron exports into the US by 50 percent effective Aug. 1, market insiders told SteelOrbis this week.
“There’s not much chatter in the US scrap market for August,” said one Midwest mill steel insider, reporting the call unchanged at sideways. “A lot of the outlook for August pricing will hinge on pig iron tariffs.”
During the July scrap buy-cycle, US Midwest prime busheling scrap in the Ohio Valley settled sideways to June at $435-460/gt ($443-468/mt), while shredded scrap finished monthly trade steady to June at $375-380/gt ($381-387/mt). Ohio Valley P&S and HMS grades settled steady at $361-371/gt ($367-377/mt) and $325-345/gt ($330-387/mt), respectively, scrap insiders told SteelOrbis.
This week, Trump sent individual tariff letters to the four US’s major trading partners setting tariffs for Canada effective Aug. 1 at 35 percent; Mexico at 30 percent; Brazil at 50 percent, and South Korea at 25 percent.
The Italian scrap market has not experienced any major changes over the past week, and only some mills have decided to lower their scrap purchase prices by €5/mt.
Scrap traders have reported a very quiet market, partly due to upcoming summer closures and the complex situation in the finished products market.
Local scrap markets in Germany and Poland showed no changes this week, and at the end of the monthly negotiations for scrap purchase contracts by mills, prices seem to have ended their descent at an average decline of €10-13/mt in Germany and of €10/mt in Poland – compared to last month. Polish collection prices at export yards for HMS I scrap have not changed since last week and still stand at €240-250/mt DAP.
While offers from supplier regions to Taiwan have remained somewhat stable, the actual prices in deals have softened this week. Market sources also report that the number of offers shared with Taiwanese buyers is declining.
Over the past week, the number of offers for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers to Taiwan have remained scarce while the offer prices moved up from $293-295/mt CFR to $297-300/mt CFR. Offered prices for Japanese H1/2 (50:50) scrap bulk cargoes have remained unchanged in the range of $308-309/mt CFR but in numbers they are few.
Due to the low demand of rebar resulted from the slow construction season, Vietnam is showing limited appetite for scrap procurement.
Over the past week, offers for Japanese H2 scrap to Vietnam have moved down by another $5/mt to $315-320/mt CFR. Ex-US bulk HMS I/II 80:20 scrap offers to Vietnam are still at around $335-340/mt CFR.
The Tokyo Bay FAS-based prices for H2 grade scrap are now at JPY 40,500/mt ($272/mt), dropped by JPY 500/mt earlier this week. Dollar-based quotations have moved down by $12/mt as compared to the levels recorded on July 4 when $1 was JPY 144.36. The FOB-based export price remains at JPY 41,500/mt ($291/mt) for the grade in question, again moving sideways on dollars.