Posted on 27 Jul 2023
Most Turkish mills have kept their domestic scrap buying prices stable since last week, while imported scrap values continue to fall.
On Tuesday, a Marmara mill bought UK-origin HMS 1&2 80:20 at $346/tonne cfr Turkey for August shipment. This points to a further decline in scrap prices, although suppliers were trying to remain firm.
Almost all European suppliers have tried selling HMS 1&2 80:20 at $350-355/t cfr, while US suppliers were targeting to sell at above $355/t cfr. However, Turkish mills, finding these prices unworkable amid falling steel prices and weak sales, have refused to buy at values above last week’s $350-355/t cfr for premium HMS 1&2 80:20.
One Turkish mill tells Kallanish: “All suppliers are referring to low scrap inflow and high costs. However, we see that almost all have at least one cargo to sell which means there is sufficient availability. On the other hand, why should we pay higher for scrap while we are decreasing our steel prices? Lowering utilisation rates further would be a better option for us."
The latest Romania-origin booking was concluded at $320/t cfr Turkey, while Turkish mills are now targeting even lower levels for short-sea scrap.
Rebar demand saw a slight improvement on Wednesday in Turkey's domestic market as stockists tried to replenish their inventories at below TRY 18,000/t ($668), VAT included. Some Turkish mills even decreased their prices to $550-560/t ex-works. Stockists find $547-553/t levels workable and have concluded rebar purchases, although end-user demand remains weak. Both domestic and export demand for Turkish rebar is still well below requirements to absorb Turkey's production capacity.
Turkish shipbreaking scrap prices fell sharply on Wednesday, meanwhile. They stood at $330-350/t delivered after a major mill decreased its buying price by $21/t. The lira was at 26.95 per dollar at business close on Wednesday.
Source:Kallanish
