Having moved up since the beginning of the month, Turkey’s deep sea scrap prices have managed to increase again in this week’s deals. Market sources were expecting an ex-US deal and that the lack of availability might still determine prices and, in the new booking done from the US, the slow upward pace of prices has been maintained.
SteelOrbis has learned that an ex-US scrap booking done by an Iskenderun-based Turkish steel producer for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap at $376/mt CFR, with shredded scrap at $396/mt CFR. With this deal, ex-US scrap prices have moved up above the psychological threshold of $375/mt CFR, with the reference price increasing by $3/mt since last Friday.
An ex-Baltic booking by another Iskenderun-based mill is rumored to have been closed at $370/mt CFR for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap and $390/mt CFR for bonus grade scrap, indicating a price increase of $1/mt.
Meanwhile, an ex-Romania deal has been closed at around $360/mt CFR, indicating another rise of $2/mt for Turkey. As Turkish mills are trying to limit the upward trend in the deep sea segment, they are showing more interest in local and short sea scrap cargoes to secure the tonnages they need. Turkey’s local scrap market has also been moving up since the beginning of January.
The positive sentiment in the deep sea scrap segment has not matched by a similar mood in the local Turkish rebar market. As of today, January 15, local rebar prices in the Turkish spot market have fallen by TRY 100-200/mt ($2-5/mt), against the backdrop of the ongoing currency fluctuations and sluggish demand, as compared to January 12. Consequently, local 12 mm rebar prices in the spot market are now in the range of TRY 28,800-29,700/mt ($556-573/mt) ex-warehouse, depending on the region, with the exchange rate at $1 = TRY 43.19. A few local traders are giving additional discounts to generate cash. While Turkish mills are trying to keep their offers to the local market stable, the spot market is softening, showing that the demand side has not recovered despite the increasing costs of Turkish mills. Market sources report that the acceptable levels for Turkish mills’ offers have settled at $555-575/mt ex-works, down by $5/mt on the higher end. This unchanged dynamic in the steel segment is problematic and raising concerns among the buyers, though not much is expected to change unless scrap availability recovers in the coming days.
