Dull finish long steel demand in the country remained a major concern along with huge currency depreciation.
After observing limited deals last week, Turkey-based steel mills have resumed scrap bookings for August shipments at sharply lowered prices this week. Weakened demand in the global market pulled suppliers under pressure and offers tumbled down by USD 5-7/MT on W-o-W basis resulting in a flurry of trades in the market yesterday. Five deep sea cargo bookings heard traded with majority of them were from USA origin.
According to SteelMint’s assessment, the recent deals concluded have pulled the price assessment for USA origin HMS (80:20) scrap down at around USD 344-345/MT, CFR Turkey, down USD 6-7/MT as against the report of USD 350-352/MT last week. In line with it, the premium for HMS 1&2 (80:20) scrap for USA over European origin stood at USD 5-6/MT.
Sentiments turned bearish with the news of EU safeguard measures, participants were hopeful for strengthening of Turkish Lira after elections with political stability but that did not happen in the market. Today USD/TRY rate stood at 4.73 which was trading at around 4.52 lowest on Monday depreciating by 4% again in a weeks’ time.
Turkey imported scrap trade-wise updates –
1. A leading steel producer, ICDAS booked USA cargo, comprising 36,000 MT of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at USD 343/MT and 4,000 MT of bonus at USD 358/MT, CFR on Tuesday.
2. The same steelmaker based in Marmara region booked another 40,000 MT USA cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at USD 344/MT, Shredded at USD 354/MT and bonus at USD 359/MT, CFR.
3. Another steelmaker based in Iskenderun region booked a 40,000 MT mix grade cargo from Benelux supplier, comprising 23,000 MT HMS 1&2 (75:25), 10,000 MT of Shredded and 7,000 MT of mixture of P&S and HMS 1 at an average price of USD 347.5/MT, CFR Turkey.
4. Izmir region based steel mill, Habas booked another USA cargo, comprising 32,000 MT of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at USD 348/MT, 7,000 MT of Shredded at USD 358/MT and 3,000 MT of bonus at USD 363/MT, CFR.
5. Followed by which, a European supplier reported to have sold HMS 1&2 (80:20) at USD 347/MT, Shredded at USD 357/MT and of bonus at USD 362/MT, CFR Turkey.
Presently a supply of Shredded scrap is improving thus, the price gap between HMS (80:20) and Shredded has narrowed down to USD 8-10/MT now which was widened to USD 13-15/MT earlier few weeks which usually assumed at USD 5/MT however, sharp rise in demand for high grade scrap in Turkey, USA and South Korea had pushed price differentials broader in the global markets.
Many of the steel mills are now expected to continue booking August shipments with new price levels and several bids at similar levels are floating in the market. Despite which participants are waiting for pick up in country’s finish steel demand which is still sluggish in both local and export markets.
Finish steel market awaits for demand – Finish steel market witnessed not considerable improvement in the demand from USA and East Asian markets. Rebar export prices assessed stable in the range of USD 545-550/MT, FoB Turkey and domestic rebar assessed at 550-560/MT, ex-works.
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