Turkish mills almost complete their scrap bookings for June shipment

Turkish steelmakers have accelerated their scrap bookings for June shipments after prices settled at $370-375/mt CFR Turkey for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap in the past week. Most import deals in Turkey have been concluded from the Baltic region and the US, with transaction levels remaining unchanged over the past week.
 
In the meantime, a major Ukraine-based billet supplier has been carrying out overhaul work and billet supply in the region has contracted, resulting in a lower Ukrainian origin billet supply volume for Turkey. In addition, the strong political tensions in Ukraine are also a reason why Turkish buyers are hesitating to conclude import billet deals from the country. These declines in import billet activity in Turkey have resulted in increased scrap demand among Turkish steelmakers in the past two weeks. Meanwhile, it is reported that Turkish mills have almost completed their import scrap bookings for June shipment.
 
On the other hand, Turkish producers are targeting lower prices in their scrap purchases for July shipments since there have been no positive developments in Turkey's local and export finished steel markets. Accordingly, the Turkish mills are expected to negotiate on prices with scrap suppliers for new purchases in the coming period.
 
Meanwhile, A3 scrap offers from the Black Sea region to Turkey are at $350-360/mt CFR, indicating no changes since last week. However, some delays have been observed in shipments amid shortages  of ship availability in the region at the moment.