Turkey: Imported Scrap Prices Fall Further in Recent Deal from Baltic

Turkish imported scrap prices have moved down further this week after another deep-sea cargo booking was reported yesterday. SteelMint learned that prices are USD 7-8/MT lower than the previous bookings. With the continued low demand of Turkish finished steel and the resultant production cuts by mills, many steelmakers have been pressurizing global suppliers of imported scrap to accept their lower bids.

In recent deals reported, a prominent supplier from Baltic region sold a bulk cargo to an Izmir region based steelmaker comprising 25,000 MT of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at USD 240/MT, CFR Turkey.

Prior to this, last week a Swiss-based supplier had sold a mixed cargo of 30,000 MT comprising of 5,000 MT of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at USD 247/MT CFR Turkey and 25,000 MT of Bonus grade scrap at USD 257/MT CFR, with shipment expected by the first half of October.

As per SteelMint's methodology, an assessment of US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) scrap has moved down to USD 244/MT, CFR Turkey. Prices have moved down further by around USD 10-11/MT against last week's report, while in comparison to the last booking reported, the fall in prices is around USD 8/MT.

As per data maintained by SteelMint, further downtrend can take the Turkish imported scrap prices near to the previous lowest levels witnessed in Feb'17 when the HMS 1&2 (80:20) assessment from the USA briefly dropped to USD 236/MT, before which the lowest prices were seen in October 2016.

Turkish rebar export prices are now down to USD 430-435/MT range, FoB over dull demand, which is anticipated to fall further on low demand.