UK STEEL SCRAP MONTHLY: Supply tightness key to market rollover in April [CORRECTED]

British steel scrap suppliers have mostly settled monthly delivery prices for steel scrap to domestic consumers in April unchanged compared with market levels the month before, amid persistent supply tightness, trade sources said this week.

The move follows initial signs around the turn of the month of a potential fall of ?20 ($27) per tonne due to a combination of reasons: downward pressure on European scrap export prices into Turkey, financial trouble at British steelmaker Liberty, industry talk of a fall in Indian scrap imports from the West, and the effect of the observance of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
But upward price pressure due to domestic supply tightness and a bounce in Turkish import prices this month have outweighed any downward pressure in the UK market, and most industry sources reported fundamental support for prices.
"It seems that several sources had initially agreed a ?20 per tonne reduction very early in the month and a big drop in April did seem a distinct possibility at the time," one industry source said.

"Turkish steelmakers were trying to get scrap prices down, while there were...

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