Steel mills and scrap suppliers held many meetings at the SteelOrbis 2019 Spring Conference & 80th IREPAS Meeting held in Barcelona at the beginning of the current week. While many suppliers gave offers for scrap cargos, the downward pressure on prices - particularly from Turkish mills - has increased, with firm bids at $300/mt CFR and at even lower levels. An ex-St Petersburg HMS I/II 80:20 scrap offer at $306/mt CFR was considered to be on the high side by Turkish mills. While an ex-US transaction for 32,000 mt of HMS I/II 80:20 scrap was concluded at $306/mt CFR, the sharp price fall in US suppliers’ offers has surprised market players since the suppliers in question had sought to maintain their offers at $320/mt CFR last week.
Having been transacted at $310/mt CFR from Bulgaria, Romania and Russia last week, short sea scrap bookings in Turkey have been concluded at $295-296/mt CFR in the current week. Although Russian HMS I/II 90:10 scrap offers, which were at $305/mt CFR yesterday, April 9, have declined to $303/mt CFR today, SteelOrbis has been informed that firm bids for this cargo are now at $297-298/mt CFR.
As billet prices are also observed to be declining, some Turkish mills are offering firm bids at $435-440/mt CFR for ex-CIS billet in the current week. But since CIS-based suppliers are not ready to reduce their prices to such levels, it is heard that ex-CIS billet sales to Turkey have been concluded at $445/mt CFR, for spot shipments.
It is also observed that, having for some time sought to keep their rebar export offers stable, Turkish steel mills are reducing their offer prices in the current week. Despite the ongoing high levels of global iron ore quotations, scrap and finished steel prices have continued their downward movement, giving rise to confusion in the international markets and causing both buyers and sellers to adopt a cautious stance. Accordingly, Turkish mills’ interest in scrap offers is observed to have weakened as of today.