Turkish mills, having been chasing short sea scrap supplies for a while, have closed a number of deals this week. According to market sources, steel producers based in the Izmir and Marmara regions have purchased a total of 40,000 mt of HMS I/II 80:20 from the Adriatic region, Romania and Bulgaria at $249-251/mt CFR. The transactions were closed on November 7 and 8, SteelOrbis has learned. Previous indications were standing at $241/mt CFR for ex-Adriatic cargoes and $245/mt CFR for cargoes from Romania. Active demand for short sea scrap in Turkey is expected to continue for now.
Meanwhile, SteelOrbis has been informed that HMS I/II 75:25 scrap offers from Israel are currently at $245/mt CFR Turkey but buyers have rejected this level. Market sources report that Turkish mills consider the range of $237-238/mt CFR to be acceptable for this grade though Israeli suppliers are unwilling to reduce their prices below the level of $240/mt CFR.
On the other hand, Turkish mills have booked sufficient volumes of the deep sea scrap recently and currently, according to sources, the appetite of buyers has decreased somewhat. On the other hand, it is reported that the number of available deep sea cargoes is higher nowadays. “Many cargoes were sold and remained unheard in Turkey. The peak is at $260/mt CFR for now; I don’t expect the prices to fall but Turkey might slow down the purchases,” a market player said.