Having seen lively activity last week, the Turkish import scrap market has made a quiet start to the current week. No new deep sea deals have been heard since the beginning of the week, while an ex-Baltic Sea scrap booking was concluded last week by a Turkish producer at $381.5/mt CFR on average. Another Turkish producer in the Iskenderun region concluded two cargo deals by tender last week, with the price of ex-Canada scrap at $380/mt CFR on average, while the price of ex-St Petersburg HMS I/II 80:20 scrap was at $377/mt CFR, for June shipment. No new deals have been heard from England or Europe in general since last week.
No new ex-US scrap deal has been concluded to Turkey since the beginning of this week. Political tensions may still flare up in Ukraine, contributing to a shortage of billet and causing US suppliers to resist another decrease in their prices. Meanwhile, the US Department of Commerce (US DOC) has ruled that all Turkish rebar producers but one will be subjected to a 2.64 percent antidumping margin as the result of the ongoing antidumping case against Turkish rebar exporters. Ex-Turkey rebar transactions to the US will likely decline due to this ruling. Demand in Turkey's other rebar export markets has remained quiet.
Even though US suppliers continue to keep their scrap prices at $380/mt, market sources say that this level is not acceptable to Turkish producers. While no problem has been experienced in billet supply from Ukraine despite the ongoing political tensions, the downward trend in scrap prices could come to an end if there is any escalation in tensions.
Overall, market players consider that it is currently difficult to predict scrap price movements for the longer term, with demand for finished steel products and the political tensions in Ukraine thought to be the main factors impacting scrap prices at present.