Turkey: Imported Scrap Prices Soften on Limited Deals

SteelMint learned from industry participants that imported scrap trades in Turkey have remained limited successively for the second week amid no news of considerable recovery in finished steel demand.

Surprisingly not many deals have been reported for Ramadan restocking. While participants remain uncertain whether remaining May shipments buying will pick up not before moving towards slowdown on account of Ramadan month starting from 5th May.

In a single deal reported so far this week, an Istanbul based steelmaker has booked a cargo from US-based supplier for June delivery, comprising 22,000 MT HMS 1&2 (90:10) at USD 305.50/MT, 13,000 MT of Shredded at USD 308.50/MT and 5,000 MT of Bonus scrap at USD 313.50/MT, CFR. This cargo puts US origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) equivalent at around USD 302-303/MT, CFR.

According to SteelMint’s assessment, US origin HMS 1&2 scrap has dropped to USD 302-303/MT, CFR Turkey, down USD 4-5/MT against last week. While prices have moved down by around USD 10/MT against USD 312-313/MT reported two weeks earlier. An assessment of Europe origin stands at around USD 298-300/MT, CFR. A premium of US material over Northern European scrap stands at around USD 3-4/MT.

It was earlier expected that the country’s limited scrap inventory for May working would lead to restocking of scrap ahead of Ramadan, thus slightly rising prices further. However, hardly a couple of trades being concluded has led to the price drop amid continued low finish steel demand. Many steel mills to eye for USD 295-300/MT levels for scrap to make profits at current rebar price levels in the market.

Turkish rebar export demand remained slow and export offers marginally dropped to USD 475-480/MT, FoB with no major deals seen yet.