Following the ongoing and long stance of the resistance received from Turkish mills, the sentiment in Turkey’s import scrap market in terms of prices is negative. It is observed that the number of scrap sellers is rising as Turkish mills are waiting, while demand is very quiet. Some market players report that there are rare price inquiries, though most sellers report that finding a bid from Turkish producers is hard.
For the European HMS I/II 80:20 scrap, price ideas of sellers are standing at around $630/mt CFR, while for Baltic and the US ideas are approximately at $640/mt CFR. However, Turkish mills are unwilling to conclude deals at these levels. “We believe buyers’ ideas are very different from these levels, though there are no firm bids from mills and that is the main problem” a seller commented. The lack of firm bids is voiced by several sellers, one added that “this week is set to continue without any new deals.” A gradual decrease expectation in deep sea scrap quotations in Turkey is voiced by some players, citing with the high number of deep sea scrap cargoes in the market. Since collection prices in the EU are now around €495-505/mt, there seems to be a room for Turkish steelmakers to exert more pressure on deep sea prices. SteelOrbis observes no problem in scrap flow to export yards both in the US and the EU. “Turkish producers are very stressed over their finished steel sales, and the market is sluggish in trading,” another SteelOrbis source commented. The lower price rumors for Russian billet, fixed in deals are also not helping, depreciating the mood further both for rebar, billet and needless to say scrap markets. The stagnation of the local Turkish rebar market is taking its toll, there are spot rebar prices in the Marmara region around $910-913/mt ex-works, while some traders are willing to sell domestically at $870-880/mt ex-works in Iskenderun. “This is too low as compared to Turkish mills’ official rebar prices,” a trader commented. Traders report that they are lowering their rebar inventories with the expectation of a price decrease in the coming period. Meanwhile, Chinese HRC prices for Turkish buyers have remained at around $1,030-1,050/mt CFR, depending on the grades of the materials, the same as last week. “In the past three to four weeks, Turkish buyers have ordered about 500,000 mt of Chinese HRC,” an international trader told SteelOrbis. In Turkish domestic market, most flats producers are in the range of $1,250-1,300/mt ex-works base in their official offers for July deliveries.
On the short sea scrap segment, conditions are very similar to the deep sea side. There are many offers from sellers to Turkey, there is little demand or interest from Turkish mills. A Romanian cargo was booked by a Marmara-based producer for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap at $600/mt CFR earlier this week, but as of today, April 13, the workable levels for Romania and Adriatic HMS I/II 80:20 scrap is in the range of $590-600/mt CFR. “Short sea market would like to see a new deep sea booking first. Although mood is negative it is not a great time to voice price expectations,” a seller commented.