Following the end-of-Ramadan holiday (May 23-26), new deep sea scrap deals have been disclosed in Turkey’s import scrap today, May 28, with no drastic change observed in prices.
SteelOrbis has learned that an Izmir-based Turkish mill has concluded an ex-US deal for 14,000 mt of HMS I/II 80:20 scrap at $253/mt CFR, 15,000 mt of shredded scrap at $258/mt CFR and 3,000 mt of bonus grade scrap at $263/mt CFR, for June shipment. Prices for prime grade scrap have moved up by $3-4.5/mt from the previous range estimated by SteelOrbis.
Another producer from the Izmir region is reported to have concluded two deals. Accordingly, an ex-Lithuania booking for HMS I/II 80:20 was reportedly closed at $252/mt CFR, with the price for this grade slightly lower than in the previous ex-Baltic transactions concluded at $252.5/mt CFR.
Meanwhile, the same steelmaker has bought an ex-Germany cargo of HMS I/II 75:25 scrap at $246/mt CFR. The material in question is known to be high quality, and so most market sources think that the price of this cargo is close to that for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap. In the previous ex-EU transaction, the HMS I/II 80:20 scrap price was at $247/mt CFR. Although these two deals had not been confirmed by the buyer or seller by the time of publication, market sources widely believe that they were in fact concluded.
Market sources surveyed by SteelOrbis state that the market is almost in equilibrium, with no one in a rush to buy or sell. Turkish mills have almost completed their purchases for June shipments, and there is only room for a few more bookings. Some market sources state that the market first needs to believe that July and August will be better in terms of finished steel sales to buy more for June shipments. As a result, there may be a short period of silence in the import scrap market in Turkey in the coming days.
The decision to ease measures against the Covid-19 virus in June in many countries is promising, though uncertainties remain regarding the recovery of industrial production and the impact of the easing of preventive measures. Meanwhile, the indicators from China such as their semi-finished steel purchases as well as iron ore quotations are still good and the sentiment in the local US scrap market has switched again to positive, though market players report that sentiment could also undergo a rapid reversal.