In the past week, Turkish steel mills' import scrap transaction prices have continued to rise slightly, more evidently with the latest ex-US scrap deal to Turkey heard yesterday, June 26. Accordingly, the ex-US HMS I/II 80:20 scrap price for Turkey reached $359/mt CFR, with an increase of $3/mt as compared to the previous ex-US transaction to Turkey last week. Turkish mills' latest scrap transactions can be viewed in detail in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
Turkish steel producers state that they are currently seeking to buy in sufficient scrap supplies ahead of Ramadan, which will start on July 9 this year, while they say that subsequently they will buy scrap only to meet their urgent needs as they do not want to pay higher prices. The scrap market is expected to take a break during Ramadan and market analysts think that the period ahead will be characterized by the strength of the US dollar in global markets and will also be influenced by macroeconomic indicators. As a result, it is still too early to predict the trend of the scrap market, they say.
On the other hand, partly as a result of higher demand, ex-Black Sea scrap offers have increased in the past week. In the latest ex-Romania scrap transaction to Turkey's Iskenderun region the price of HMS I/II 80:20 stood at $355/mt CFR and offers to the Marmara region thus stand at $347-350/mt CFR, when the difference in freight rate is considered. In the meantime, market sources also state that scrap availability is on the short side in the Black Sea region, another factor which helps to push up ex-Black Sea scrap prices.