In the last couple of days, offers for deep-sea cargoes of scrap to Turkey were seen to have been withdrawn by many global suppliers, following the prices crashing to almost 4-year low levels earlier in the week, as well as tightening of supply due to slow inflows of scrap into yards. This is an indication of a possible rebound in global scrap prices shortly, while buyers are not finding offers easily.
Many scrap exporting countries in Europe and North America having been heavily affected by covid-19, have reduced operations for scrap collections and the resultant diminishing stocks have led to scarcity of export offers globally.
Few market particiapnts shared with SteelMint that, in a latest deal signed, a Russian cargo comprising a small batch of 3000-4000 MT of HMS 1&2 (90:10) at USD 224/MT CFR Turkey. Prior to this, at the opening of the week, HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Denmark was sold at USD 207/MT CFR Turkey, the lowest level witnessed since mid-2016. However, this deal could not be confirmed at the time of publishing this report.
Because of the limited offers and low availability at yards, there is a likelihood that buyers who are need in need to secure material may conclude at quite higher prices. However given the production cuts in steelmaking by mills amid the pandemic situation, buyers might not be requiring any immediate restocking, especially after record high bookings for March shipments, observed earlier. Market participants are of the opinion that situation will gain clarity in forthcoming days, with buyers turning in ‘wait & watch’ mode.
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