US export scrap market sees improvement as Turkey increases its scrap buying activities.
SteelOrbis has learned that Turkish steel mills' scrap inventories are at low levels, therefore Turkish producers have been purchasing scrap tonnage in order to continue their steel production. Also, the Turkish domestic finished products market has reversed trend with increasing prices and demand, resulting in rising demand for scrap as well. Sources tell SteelOrbis that Turkish producers have concluded several scrap bookings from the US in the past week with prices in the level of $465 to $475/mt CFR, reflecting an increase of approximately $20/mt when compared to two weeks ago.
Additionally, in light of Japan's current situation, scrap buyers in the Far East are turning to the US and pushing up the ex-US offer scrap prices to the region by approximately $10/mt or more. Currently, the ex-US bulk offer scrap prices to the Far East are over $490/mt CFR and ex-US container offer scrap prices are at $465 to $480/mt CFR.
In the US domestic market, scrap prices have stayed sideways to down approximately $10/lt in the East Coast while scrap prices have come down by as much as $20/lt in the Midwest in the beginning of May due mainly to the improved scrap flow.