Having postponed their import scrap purchases for a long time now, Turkish steel mills are still refraining from concluding new scrap deals as they have failed to gain a clearer picture of the future trend of the steel market due to the uncertainties caused by developments in Northern Iraq. Turkish steel producers met with more than 43 foreign scrap suppliers at the SteelOrbis 2017 Fall Conference & 77th IREPAS Meeting held in Athens at the beginning of the current week, during which they stated that they are not maintaining an active purchasing strategy for now. Turkish steelmakers’ decision to take a step back from the scrap market as well as the declines recorded in scrap prices have caused buyers in other regions to also maintain a wait-and-see stance, while the pressure being exerted on scrap suppliers - who have been facing weak demand for a long time now - is causing scrap prices to fall further. Having reduced its sales prices significantly in its last two transactions, a Canadian scrap supplier has concluded another scrap sale to Turkey for a cargo with the average price level of $312.5/mt CFR. Meanwhile, it is observed that import HMS I/II 80:20 scrap prices in Turkey have declined from $355/mt CFR to $305/mt CFR over the past two weeks.
The rapid depreciation of the Turkish lira against the US dollar due to the developments in Northern Iraq as well as the declines seen in scrap prices have caused rebar purchases in Turkey to decline further, and so Turkish steel mills are expected to continue to put further pressure on scrap prices.