Prime grade scrap prices in a new ex-Belgium scrap booking in Turkey indicate a slight increase today, November 24, while a Canadian cargo signaled a decrease in prices.
SteelOrbis has learned that a producer in Iskenderun has bought the cargo, consisting of 20,000 mt of HMS I/II 80:20 scrap, 10,000 mt of shredded scrap and 10,000 mt of bonus grade scrap at the average price of $499/mt CFR. The cargo will be shipped in January. According to the information received, the benchmark HMS I/II 80:20 scrap price is estimated to be around $489/mt CFR, with a $20/mt premium mostly observed for ex-Europe cargoes. Prior to this deal, ex-Netherlands HMS I/II 80:20 scrap was bought at $487/mt CFR Turkey.
Also, there is a rumor of an ex-Canadian cargo sold to a Marmara-based mill, which contains 50,000 mt of HMS I/II 95:5 scrap at $508/mt CFR. This information was not confirmed by the buyer or the seller at the time of publication, but the HMS I/II 80:20 scrap price is estimated at around $493-498/mt CFR, according to this deal.
It is observed that there are a number of offers to Turkey for deep sea scrap, while a slight recovery on the demand side is also voiced by market players. The sharp depreciation of the Turkish lira has caused buyers to maintain a cautious stance, though they do not have much time before the holiday season starts on both sides of the Atlantic. Meanwhile, sellers are still not aggressive in their offers to Turkey, but are waiting for the next round of bookings which they believe will start at the current price levels. On the other hand, scrap flow in the European scrap market is slowing down amid winter conditions, while some EU-based collectors have said that they are not willing to sell more tonnages ahead of the holiday season, in order to avoid paying higher end-of-year taxes.