Posted on 08 Sep 2022
Some Turkish mills decreased their domestic scrap buying prices on Wednesday due to the sharp declines seen in imported scrap values, Kallanish notes.
Two deep-sea scrap bookings were heard on Wednesday. A western Turkish mill booked EU-origin scrap at average $380/tonne cfr Turkey at the end of last week, while HMS 1&2 80:20 is heard to correspond to $372-373/t cfr levels. While this represents the market level of last weekend, a US-deal concluded this week points to a further decrease in prices. A long steel mill in the Marmara region is heard to have booked US-origin scrap at $374/t cfr for HMS 1&2 80:20, and at $389/t cfr for shredded and bonus grade.
Romanian scrap, which was booked at $370-375/t cfr levels last week, was bought by a long steel mill at $356/t cfr.
There seem to be plentiful offers in the market while most mills' buying appetite remains low.
Some exporters in the Benelux, meanwhile, have decreased their dock prices to €310/t ($309) delivered levels from €320-325/t earlier this week. On the other hand, a US mill entered the domestic market with a shredded scrap bid at $25/gross ton lower from August prices.
With all market fundamentals pointing to further falls in scrap prices, most Turkish mills think a price below $350/t cfr will be reached soon.
One mill source says: “The number of offers is outpacing Turkey's demand. Actually, only a few large-volume mills are inquiring about scrap. The others are silent and considering either further production cuts or halts. We are experiencing a freefalling market.”
Demand in the domestic and export rebar markets remains subdued, meanwhile. Amid weak interest, mills' rebar offers in the domestic market remained unchanged at $685-710/t ex-works on Wednesday. Buyers are expecting prices to fall due to lacklustre demand and lower scrap. On the other hand, with more mills halting production, problems are occurring in the supply of certain sizes, which is likely to support prices to some extent.
Turkish shipbreaking scrap prices, meanwhile, were at $360-370/t delivered on Wednesday. The lira was at 18.24 per dollar at business close on Wednesday.
Source:Kallanish
