Turkey's push for lower scrap prices out of the US has been successful, with export prices falling significantly in the last couple weeks. Exporters had previously been resistant to significantly dropping prices. However, scrap prices out of Europe have been on the decline, and Turkey has snapped up scrap from the US at about $365/mt CFR for mix of HMS I/II and shredded scrap. Lower global scrap prices, in addition to the drop in US domestic scrap prices in May, have been factors in pushing down export scrap prices from the US East Coast to Turkey. Just two weeks ago, ex-US scrap cargos to Turkey were sold at about $375-$380/mt CFR, but have fallen way below those levels since last week.
In the past week, US export scrap prices fell to $365/mt CFR Turkey for a mixed cargo, while rumblings of a transaction at $360/mt CFR for a mix of HMS I/II 80:20 and shredded scrap could not be confirmed. Meanwhile, export scrap activity off the US West Coast has been light, and prices have fallen in the last couple weeks. Container scrap cargos of HMS I/II have been sold at approximately $352-$355/mt CFR, down about $5/mt in the last week or two. Overall scrap demand out of Taiwan is weak due to lagging finished steel demand and it's uncertain whether or not the most recent export prices have more room to fall.