Sentiment in Turkey’s import scrap market has switched back to positive as far as prices are concerned within less than a week with two fresh deep sea cargoes recently booked to the Iskenderun region.
According to sources, an ex-Belgium scrap supplier has sold 22,500 mt of HMS I/II 75:25 and 12,500 mt of P&S and HMS I at the average price of $247.5/mt CFR for shipment in the second half of June. With this sale, the ex-EU HMS I/II 80:20 price is estimated at $247/mt CFR, while the previous deal for this scrap grade of European origin was sealed at $238/mt CFR last week, as SteelOrbis reported. “That [low] sale was a mistake and the rest of the suppliers showed resistance except for short sea deals. We consider deep sea scrap as stabilized with higher levels aimed at from now on,” a trader stated.
In addition, an ex-US seller has traded 20,000 mt of HMS I/II 95:5, 7,000 mt of shredded and 3,000 mt of bonus scrap at the average price of $256/mt CFR. The cargo will be shipped in June. The ex-US HMS I/II 80:20 benchmark price is estimated at $248.5/mt CFR in the mentioned sale, while some calculate the level at $250/mt CFR.
Market insiders expect premium HMS I/II 80:20 scrap sellers to offer not less than $250/mt CFR from now on. “While China is this positive and iron ore is high, psychologically it is not right to expect price drops in scrap. In addition, mills are somewhat positive for July, so some may choose to close deals now before scrap prices climb further,” a trader said. Sources estimate that Turkey requires at least five to six deep sea cargoes for June shipments, while some insiders foresee over 10 lots to be booked as mills may be expecting better business in the finished steel segments for July shipments, SteelOrbis understands.