US export scrap buying activity from both the US East Coast and West Coast has been extremely quiet in the last week with extremely minimal transaction activity taking place. However, the past week's silence follows approximately two weeks of robust buying activity on both coasts from mills in the Far East and Turkey.
Turkish mills made a number of substantial scrap buys in mid-December because their scrap inventories depleted dramatically and finished steel demand experienced a noticeable uptick. Sources informed SteelOrbis that some mills in Turkey had to pay a substantial premium for scrap this month in order to have it delivered as soon as possible--within four to six weeks--which helped to drive up export prices even further. As a result, ex-East Coast export scrap prices to Turkey jumped approximately $30-$40/mt from early December to the current range of $460-$465/mt CFR for an HMS 80/20 mix and $465-$470/mt CFR for shredded scrap. Almost no activity has been heard out of Turkey in the last week, as it is not yet certain if Turkish scrap inventories are sufficient yet or not, but if Turkey does come back to the market in the next week or two, export prices could easily jump even further.
On the West Coast, the most recent export scrap transactions from the US to Taiwan were concluded approximately a week ago as well, at prices in the range of $450-$455/mt CFR for a mix of HMS and shredded scrap, an increase of about $30/mt from early this month.