Turkish deep-sea scrap import markets were quiet on Monday July 5 with mills reluctant to buy scrap amid limited finished steel demand, while suppliers kept offers firm, market sources told Fastmarkets.
Steel producers in Turkey booked four deep-sea cargoes last week, three of which were booked by a single steel mill.
The most recent deep-sea transaction put the heavy melting scrap 1&2 (80:20) price at $495 per tonne cfr on Thursday July 1.
But overall demand for scrap was still limited, with the country's steel producers struggling with finished steel sales in both domestic and export markets, Fastmarkets was told.
"The Turkish steel mills are struggling on both sides: they cannot sell enough finished steel products, while the scrap prices are still firm. Therefore, the market has remained silent since late last week," a Turkish mill source said.
"Steel mills are trying to increase their domestic offers for rebar due to firm scrap costs. A steel mill in the Izmir region sold some 10,000 tonnes of rebar to the local market at $705 per tonne ex-works (7,225 lira per tonne, including 18% value-added tax). It closed its sales book and raised its offer price to $710 per tonne (7,277 lira per tonne with sales tax)," another Turkish mill source said.
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey was 7,200-7,300 lira ($829-840) per tonne on Thursday July 1, widening downward from the previous week's price of 7,245-7,300 lira per tonne, including 18% VAT.
As a result of a lack of fresh trading activity, the daily scrap indices remained stable at the beginning of the week.
Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was calculated at $490.75 per tonne on Monday, unchanged from Friday, while the index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey was unchanged at $498.39 per tonne.
This left the premium for United States material over European scrap at $7.64 per tonne.