Turkish steel mills continued with their deep-sea scrap purchases for May shipments at steady prices on Thursday April 8, sources told Fastmarkets.
A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a US cargo, comprising 32,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $433 per tonne, 3,000 tonnes of shredded at $438 per tonne and 3,000 tonnes of bonus scrap at $443 per tonne cfr.
A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a European cargo, consisting of 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20), 11,000 tonnes of shredded, 8,000 tonnes of plate and structural (P&S) and 2,000 tonnes of busheling at an average price of $433 per tonne cfr.
And a steel producer in northern Turkey booked a European cargo, comprising 10,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $431 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bonus at $441 per tonne cfr.
The previous deep-sea bookings on Wednesday April 7 were done at $430-433 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis.
As a result, the daily scrap indices remained fairly stable on Thursday April 8.
Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was $428.42 per tonne, down by just $0.43 per tonne.
And Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey was calculated at $434.39 per tonne on April 8, also down by $0.43 per tonne, leaving the premium for US material over European scrap at $5.97 per tonne.
"Scrap prices will be in the range of $425 and $435 per tonne cfr within this trade wave... The producers do not have much hope for the domestic [long steel] market. I think the market will remain sideways for the moment," said an executive at a Turkish steelmaker.