Turkish mills adopt cautious approach to scrap purchases

After Far Eastern mills were heard to have concluded purchases of scrap last week, the scrap purchase activity of Turkish mills also appeared to quicken, albeit temporarily.
 
In the middle of last week, the recovery of scrap demand in Turkey caused ex-Black Sea scrap prices in particular to rise; the prices in question rose to the level of $405/mt CFR at the end of last week, having previously decreased to $370/mt CFR. However, the mentioned demand recovery was temporary. As of this week, the Turkish mills are again not showing much demand for scrap.
 
In the US domestic market, with scrap supplies improving, scrap prices are expected to decline by $30-50/mt depending on quality in the anticipated scrap price announcements for May. Far Eastern buyers's ex-US and ex-Europe scrap bookings continued over the past week. Though scrap prices had shown an increase of $10/mt at the start of these bookings, they then decreased by $10/mt to the level of $450/mt CFR. In last week's transactions heard in Turkey, HMS I/II 80:20 prices were standing at $410-415/mt CFR. This week, ex-US HMS I/II 80:20 prices are thought to be at levels of $410/mt CFR and slightly below.
 
Ex-Europe HMS I/II 70:30 scrap, which had decreased to $390/mt CFR early last week, is heard to be offered this week at around $400/mt CFR.
 
On the Black Sea side, while general A3 scrap offers are heard in the range of $400-410/mt CFR, ex-Russia A3 offers in particular are observed not to have declined below the level of $410/mt. However, it is known that the purchase idea of Turkish mills is lower than $400/mt CFR.
 
With the price decreases announced for finished products in Egypt and given the weak rebar demand in the local Turkish market, Turkish buyers are currently adopting a cautious approach to scrap purchases.