Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices went down further at the end of the week on the news of a fresh US booking, market participants told Fastmarkets on Friday May 28.
A steel mill in the Marmara region booked the US cargo, consist of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $503 per tonne and shredded at $513 per tonne cfr. The cargo breakdown was not immediately clear at the time of publication.
The previous deal from the US was on Wednesday, when a Turkish steelmaker booked 44,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $515 per tonne cfr. This equates to about $508 per tonne on HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis.
As a result, the daily scrap indices went down further at the end of the week.
Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $500.66 per tonne on Friday May 28, down by $2.98 per tonne.
And the corresponding daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, was $505.24 per tonne on May 28, also down by $2.98 per tonne, leaving the premium for US material over European scrap at $4.58 per tonne.
Turkish steel mills booked only two deep-sea cargoes this week.
The main driver of the falling prices was weak steel demand in Turkey's domestic and export markets.
Falling steel billet prices in China brought a decline in import prices for scrap and Turkey's billet and finished long steel prices have recently been supported by demand from Asia.
Fastmarkets'
weekly price assessment for steel billet, import, cfr China, was $650-660 per tonne on May 28, down from $700-720 per tonne a week earlier.