Two deep sea scrap cargoes from last week signal that Turkey’s import scrap market has more room to move down. While the bookings in question were disclosed today, April 24, negative sentiment persists as regards the future trend of deep sea scrap prices.
SteelOrbis has learned that an ex-Netherlands booking was done by an Iskenderun-based producer late last week for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap at $415/mt CFR and bonus grade scrap at $435/mt CFR, for May shipment. Previously, the ex-EU HMS I/II 80:20 scrap price was at $422.5/mt CFR on average.
An ex-Baltic deal done by an Izmir-based mill early last week was also disclosed to the market today, with the HMS I/II 80:20 and bonus grade scrap prices standing at $415/mt CFR and $435/mt CFR, respectively. Prior to this deal, benchmark grade prices for this origin were at $426.75/mt CFR.
Meanwhile, an ex-Bulgaria cargo has been sold to Turkey with HMS I/II 80:20 scrap at $372/mt CFR, indicating a decline from the general range of short sea prices at $380-385/mt CFR. As of today, Romanian HMS I/II 80:20 scrap prices are estimated to be at around $375-380/mt CFR.
Returning from the end-of-Ramadan holiday, Turkey’s import scrap market has continued to move down on the first workday of the week, continuing the previous trend. The fundamentals of the market have not changed: steel demand is still sluggish, financial difficulties are still observed, and Turkish mills are struggling to make proper forecasts for the coming period. Meanwhile, local US scrap prices are expected to move down in the May buy-cycle. US-based sources polled said they are hearing that domestic producers “want to take
scrap down by as much as $50/gt,” although it is unclear whether mills “will try to do that in one shot or if they’ll split it between May and June”. For now, sources say they believe that down $20-30/gt is likely. Similarly, SteelOrbis has learned that European domestic scrap prices are expected to decline by at least €20/mt in May. Late last week, collection prices at European scrap export yards were in the range of €330-340/mt DAP, though today market players believe there may be some more room for a decrease on DAP basis if European mills can successfully cut their own procurement prices. Since the abovementioned prices in the deep sea scrap deals are now considered to be old, a further decline in prices is possible this week in the next bookings.