While Turkish steel producers continue their negotiations for scrap bookings, their price expectations are far below scrap offer price levels, SteelOrbis has learned.
Ex-Europe HMS I/II 80:20 scrap offers to Turkey stand at $420-425/mt CFR. However, since Turkish buyers' counter offers are at $412-415/mt CFR, negotiations are taking some time. In the latest transaction heard early this week, a Turkish steel producer concluded a transaction for a single ex-Europe cargo consisting of 20,000 mt of HMS I/II 75:25, 10,000 mt of shredded scrap and 5,000 mt of busheling grade scrap at an average price level of $422/mt CFR.
In Spain, steel producers have started their scrap bookings and thus prices have started to increase slightly. Spanish mills' purchase prices of HMS I/II 80:20 stand at €295-305/mt ($410-424/mt) CFR. Believing that scrap prices should not drop any further, European scrap suppliers are not inclined to reduce their prices to the levels sought by the Turkish mills. Having difficulties in finding ex-Black Sea scrap, Turkish steel producers will need to slightly increase their price idea in order to be able to switch to ex-deep sea scrap bookings.