US scrap exporters and offshore mills are differing in their current price ideas and prices have slipped over the past few transactions. Turkish mills have been relatively inactive over the last week, only booking a couple scrap cargos from the US, as the mills are still aiming to negotiate prices lower. Turkish mills' current expectations for export scrap prices out of the US are currently around $390/mt CFR, about $5-$10/mt lower than the most recent sales for HMS I/II and shredded scrap at $395-$400/mt CFR this past week. The latest sale represents a decrease from about $410-$415/mt CFR just two weeks ago. Whether exporters drop prices down further, however, isn't yet certain-if US domestic scrap prices fall when the market settles for December, export prices could also drop if export demand doesn't pick up.
Export scrap prices off the US West Coast have also slipped by about $5/mt in the last couple weeks, with the latest containerized HMS I/II cargos to Taiwan sold at about $365/mt CFR, and exporters are already expected to drop port buying prices in the next few days. Scrap broker sources have indicated that because Taiwanese mills aren't holding especially heavy scrap tonnages right now, they may be forced to buy sooner rather than later. The recent price weakening in the export scrap market is poised to impact US domestic scrap prices for December. Earlier expectations of an increase of about $30/lt have subsided, and with finished steel demand relatively weak, prices are now more likely to settle sideways, with prices in some cities fluctuating up or down $5-$10/lt.