Turkey, the world’s leading buyer of ferrous scrap, recorded imports of the material at 1.96 million tonnes (mn t) in May’21, a straight 19% drop against 2.42 mn t in Apr’21, as per SteelMint data.
Owing to the Eid holidays, the country’s steel mills remained less active in booking scrap cargoes in May. Imported scrap volumes into Turkey, however, showed a significant rise of 68% y-o-y.
Meanwhile, Turkish mills’ crude steel output was recorded at 3.2 mn t in May’21, up 42%, y-o-y. But the volume saw a marginal m-o-m decline of 3% from 3.3 mn t in Apr’21, as per figures released by the World Steel Association (WSA).
Market highlights
Imports from UK rise, volume from US drop: The UK stood as the top exporter of ferrous scrap to Turkey with 0.27 mn t in May’21 as against 0.25 mn t in Apr’21. The US remained the second largest exporter with 0.26 mn t in May’21, followed by Russia and Netherlands with 0.17 mn t and 0.15 mn t respectively. Exports have come down slightly on limited demand due to high offers.
Turkish lira hits six-month low: Turkey’s national currency continued to depreciate against the dollar, hitting over six-month low since Nov’20 on tighter US monetary policy. At the end of the reviewing month, 1TRY is being traded at $8.44 levels as compared to $8.29 levels a month ago. Sharp fluctuation in the lira continues to affect the domestic market.
Prices decline in Apr’21: SteelMint’s assessment of US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) stood at $430/t CFR Turkey in Apr’21 and $439/t CFR in Mar’21, down by $9/t m-o-m. Imported scrap trade has been slow in Apr’21 with the start of the Ramadan festival. Market participants stayed away during the holy month.
Meanwhile, there were offers available in the market against less demand, which kept prices under pressure.
Outlook
Turkish buyers anticipate that imported scrap prices would likely improve in Jun’21 and bookings might increase post-Eid considering a fall in Chinese steel prices.
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