Turkey, the world’s leading buyer of ferrous scrap, recorded imports of the material at 1.54 million tonnes (mn t) in Sept’21, a decrease of 21% against 1.96 mn t in Aug’21, as per SteelMint data.
Demand for imported ferrous scrap decreased due to disparities in bids and offers owing to dull finished steel demand in both the domestic and overseas markets. Turkish buyers remained quiet and adopted a wait-and-watch approach. In addition, there was sufficient scrap available with the mills which limited further bookings of the imported material.
Imported scrap volumes into Turkey, however, dropped by 28% y-o-y from 2.14 mn t in Sept’20.
Market highlights:
- Exports from USA up, fall from other locations: USA stood as the top exporter of ferrous scrap to Turkey with 0.52 mn t in Sept’21 as against 0.28 mn t in Aug’21, a notable increase of 86% m-o-m. The buyers preferred to book cargoes from USA as the market prices were in accordance with the demand of Turkish traders.
Russia was the second-largest exporter with 0.12 mn t, followed by Venezuela at 0.09 mn t in Sept’21, as per SteelMint data.
- Prices fall in Aug’21: SteelMint’s assessment of US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) stood at $455/t CFR Turkey in Aug’21 and $486/t CFR in Jul’21, down by around $25-30/t m-o-m.
- Lira depreciates further against $: The Turkish lira depreciated to 8.9 against the dollar in end-Sept’21 as compared to 8.39 in end-Aug’21.
- Automobile sales down in Sept’21: The Turkish automobile and light commercial vehicles sales declined by 37% y-o-y in Sept’21 to 57,141 units, largely due to the semiconductor shortage, which left local dealers without enough cars to meet the surging demand, according to official data published by the Automotive Distributors Association (ODD).
Outlook
It is expected that Turkey’s imported scrap volumes will be higher in Oct’21 on improved bookings backed by supportive steel prices.
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