Beginning from last week, Turkish mills' scrap bookings have slowed down once again. Turkish steel producers have suspended their scrap transactions for the time being partly due to their previous intensive scrap bookings, but also because they expect scrap prices to decline in line with anticipations of a further weakening of the euro versus the US dollar, after the exchange rate declined recently to the level of 1.40.
Last week, no ex-US scrap transaction was heard in the Turkish market. SteelOrbis has learned that ex-US HMS I/II 80:20 scrap prices, which had climbed to $475/mt CFR in early May, have now regressed; however, US scrap suppliers are still not inclined to sell material at under $460/mt CFR.
Last week's ex-Europe scrap bookings in Turkey have already been published by SteelOrbis under price reports. While the latest ex-Europe HMS I/II 80:20 scrap transaction was booked at $447.5 CFR in Turkey in the middle of last week, no bookings have been reported since. However, Turkish mills are expecting ex-Europe scrap prices to show some softening, under the influence of the weakening of the euro versus the US dollar.
Regarding ex-Black Sea scrap prices, in Romania scrap collection prices stand at about $415-420/mt, while Romanian A3 scrap offers to Turkey are at $445-450/mt CFR. Some slowdown is observed in Turkish mills' scrap bookings from this region.
Turkish mills, who had switched to the US market for their scrap bookings when the euro was strong against the US dollar, are now expecting ex-Europe scrap offers to increase in number and prices to decline to some extent, in line with the softening of the euro. However, it is also predicted that, if the current liveliness continues in finished steel sales, this will lead Turkish mills to begin their scrap purchases immediately, thereby slowing down the softening of scrap prices.