Turkish steel producers returned to the deep-sea scrap import market at the start of the week, booking cargoes from a range of locations at lower prices, market participants told Fastmarkets on Monday April 19.
At the end of the last week, a steel mill in the Izmir region booked a European cargo at $417 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20).
And a steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Venezuelan shipment of 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $415.50 per tonne cfr.
However, the Venezuelan cargo was not taken into the index calculation, as it was not a traditional supplier.
These deals compared with the previous deep-sea cargo sold on April 9, when a steel mill in the Iskenderun region paid an average price of $436 per tonne cfr for 35,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) and 15,000 tonnes of shredded.
As a result of the fresh transactions on Monday, the daily scrap indices went down.
Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was calculated at $417 per tonne on April 19, down by $6.27 per tonne day on day.
And the daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey was $422.97 per tonne on Monday April 19, also down by $6.27 per tonne day on day, leaving the premium for US material over European scrap at $5.97 per tonne.
In addition, a steel mill in the Iskenderun region was heard adding more HMS 1&2 (80:20) to its previously purchased UK cargo at $422 per tonne cfr.
And another European cargo came to light after the calculation of the indices, with a mill in the Izmir region booking another European cargo at $416 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20).
Suppliers in the United States and the Baltic Sea were trying to maintain their existing offer prices, market sources said.
"Deep-sea scrap import prices have gone down as expected," a Turkish mill source said. "Suppliers in the US, for example, are still aiming to sell at $430 per tonne cfr and above, as they have good domestic demand. However, the new price level for Turkey is $415-420 per tonne cfr, [so] mills will not want to pay any higher."
A supplier in the Baltic Sea region, meanwhile, told Fastmarkets it had a cargo on offer at around $425 per tonne cfr on HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis.