With weakening foreign scrap demand, US export scrap prices have dropped in early October.
Turkish producers have been purchasing scrap from Europe as the falling euro against the US dollar continues to make European scrap more attractive than US scrap. Although Turkish mills have low scrap inventories, decreasing prices in their domestic flat and long products has have made producers hesitant to make scrap purchases. SteelOrbis has learned that Turkish mills have concluded scrap cargoes from Canada at approximately $448/mt CFR in the past week, while ex-US scrap suppliers are trying to offer at the level of $465/mt CFR, which is a decrease of $5 to $10/mt from two weeks ago, however, this price level has not been accepted by Turkish producers.
With sufficient scrap availability in domestic markets in the Far East, in addition to currency fluctuations, ex-US scrap prices to the Far East have declined as well. On the West Coast, ex-US bulk offer prices to China have come down slightly from the high end to the level of $490 to $495/mt CFR, while ex-US container scrap offer prices to Taiwan have decreased by approximately $25/mt to $450/mt CFR, and market sources expect ex-US containers scrap prices to Taiwan will come down further by $10/mt in the coming weeks.
As for the US domestic market, US scrap prices have gone sideways to down by as much as $20/lt ($19.68/mt) in early October, depending on grade and region. East Coast busheling scrap prices have decreased by as much as $20/lt ($19.68/mt) while both shredded scrap and HMS I prices have gone down by $10/lt ($9.84/mt). In the Midwest, busheling scrap prices have reduced by approximately $15/lt ($14.76/mt), shredded scrap prices have stayed neutral, and HMS I prices have come down by $10/lt ($9.84/mt) when compared to early September prices.