The Turkish scrap import price increased to $600/t cfr on Thursday as mills tried to entice suppliers to sell below this level but suppliers gave offer indications at $610-620/t cfr.
The Argus daily HMS 1/2 80:20 cfr Turkey steel scrap assessment increased $45/t to $600/t cfr.
That is the largest day-on-day increase of the Argus cfr Turkey steel scrap assessment on record and reflects an average $55/t increase in Turkish domestic/export rebar sales prices between yesterday morning and this morning. It also reflects the lack of scrap offers to Turkey since the beginning of the week amid exporters' inabilities to source any sizeable volume of scrap from local suppliers.
A Baltic supplier sold a cargo with HMS 1/2 80:20 priced at $585/t cfr Iskenderun on Wednesday evening. The cargo comprised 23,000t of HMS 1/2 80:20, 6,000t of shred priced at $610/t cfr, and 6,000t of bonus at $610/t cfr. But even that dramatic price increase was not sufficient to draw large numbers of new offers into the Turkish market as scrap exporters found it difficult to source new material without significantly increasing dockside purchasing bids.
A continental European exporter paid €445/t delivered to Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp-Ghent (ARAG) docks for HMS 1/2 on Thursday, while a second paid €450/t and a third paid €470/t. Many deep-sea scrap exporters are still trying to stop higher deal price levels to Turkey being discussed in the market to prevent sub-suppliers from lifting offers higher.
Turkish scrap import prices are still also not keeping pace with the rise in Turkish rebar and billet sales prices. Turkish mills have only covered around 25pc of their billet and rebar sales through scrap purchases since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This means they have not profited fully from the rise in billet and rebar sales prices.
Turkish steelmakers have also achieved strong sales of flats products in the past week to countries including Egypt, Morocco, Macedonia and Moldova. Flats producers cannot find slab to substitute for scrap as a result of the Ukraine conflict.
In total, over 1mn t of steel is estimated to have been sold by Turkish mills since Russia invaded Ukraine, and only around 250,000t of scrap has been purchased to cover these sales.
Turkish mills will in hindsight wish they had not sold such large volumes in the first two days of the Russian invasion given how little scrap they have sourced this week. A large volume of Turkish export rebar was sold at $780-800/t fob earlier this week although that is averaging up strongly based on Turkish export rebar sales today at $860-870/t fob to Yemen and Israel.
Argus' weekly Turkish domestic steel rebar assessment increased TL2,460/t to TL14,750/t ex-works including VAT on Thursday, equivalent to $884/t ex-works excluding VAT, up $150.50/t on the week, and the Argus daily fob Turkey steel rebar assessment has increased $120/t from $745/t fob to $865/t fob over the same period.
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices rose at a slower rate of $92.50/t in the last week, which means Turkish steelmakers are still on course to widen scrap-rebar spreads significantly once they are able to source more scrap. Turkish mills have largely decided now to stop selling large volumes of rebar and billet towards the end of the week in case scrap purchasing remains difficult and they continue to not be able to fully benefit from the rise in their sales prices. But they still raised steel offers much higher in the middle of today.
A Samsun mill offered rebar locally in the afternoon at TL15,000/t ex-works including VAT, calculated by Argus at the equivalent to $899/t ex-works excluding VAT. An Iskenderun mill offered TL15,250/t ex-works including VAT, up TL1,250/t ex-works on the day, equivalent to $914/t ex-works excluding VAT.
Turkish short-sea scrap offer indications jumped following a Romanian HMS 1/2 80:20 sale at $555/t cif Marmara yesterday afternoon. Offer indications from Bulgaria were heard on Thursday at $580/t cif Marmara for HMS 1/2 80:20.
The Argus daily HMS 1/2 80:20 cif Turkey (short-sea) assessment increased $45/t to $575/t on Thursday.
