UK ferrous scrap prices for monthly deliveries to consumers in January have settled with increases of around ?15-20 per tonne compared with December's settlements, trade sources told Metal Bulletin this week.
One main factor in settling January contracts was the steady increase in the scrap import price into Turkey, a key export market for British steel scrap, sources said. Metal Bulletin's daily scrap index for Northern Europe-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) scrap into Turkey was last assessed at $366.99 per tonne cfr on January 15, up from $361.62 per tonne at the start of the month. The market was around $327 per tonne at the start of December 2017. It seems, however, that quieter demand in Turkey so far this year has affected freight costs, which are currently around $17-19 per tonne from the UK to Turkey, from about $30 per tonne in December. Freight costs were around $22 per tonne in November last year. There...