International currency sell-offs are keeping the steel and ferrous scrap markets on edge, with the weak performances of banknotes of major emerging markets dampening import prices across Asia.
Apart from the Turkish lira, which has depreciated by more than 40% this year in the aftermath of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's quibble with the United States, the Russian rouble has also started to weaken amid the specter of fresh US sanctions on Moscow. It weakened to more than 70 roubles per US dollar for the first time in more than two years this week, compared with about 58 roubles per dollar at the start of the year.Russian billet offers to Asia have tracked those of Turkey: both countries' offers for the semi-finished steel product have fallen hand in hand while their currencies depreciated. Most of the cargoes offered to Asia in the past few weeks consisted of Turkish and Russian...