Turkish steel producers made no deep-sea scrap bookings on the first day of the working week, but are expected to return to the market for August cargoes soon, market sources said on Monday June 28.
The most recent deal was done on Thursday June 24, when a steel mill in the Izmir region booked a United States cargo at $499 per tonne cfr on heavy melting scrap 1&2 (80:20) basis and $519 per tonne cfr for shredded and bonus. This was the sole deep-sea deal since June 15.
Steel mills in the country are expected to restart their deep-sea purchases soon for August shipment, according to sources, but they are still struggling with limited steel demand in the country's export outlets.
"The low steel offers from India to Asian countries have disrupted the mood in the market. Turkish mills cannot easily compete with those prices," a trading source said.
"The Turkish mills are expected to resume their scrap bookings for August shipments, but they are waiting for the sellers to come to the market first. They are trying to save some time with short-sea cargoes," another trading source said.
"The Turkish steel producers have been offering rebar for export at $730 per tonne fob on an actual weight basis. But Indian rebar offers to Hong Kong are at $720 per tonne cfr. The market is about to hit the bottom," a Turkish mill source said.
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for
steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob main port Turkey was $730-750 per tonne on Thursday June 24, narrowing downward by $15 from $730-765 per tonne the week before.
The daily scrap indices were static on Monday as a result of the lack of fresh transactions.
Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was calculated at $499.96 per tonne, unchanged day on day, while the daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey was $506.14 per tonne, also flat day on day.
This left the premium for US material over European scrap stable at $6.18 per tonne.