The Turkish scrap import price edged down today on a continental European sale to an Iskenderun mill concluded for May shipment.
A continental European supplier was heard to sell HMS 1/2 80:20 at $248/t and bonus at $258/t cfr Iskenderun for May shipment.
The Argus daily HMS 1/2 80:20 cfr Turkey and HMS 1/2 75:25 fob Rotterdam steel scrap assessment both decreased $3.50/t to $253/t and $223.60/t.
The buyer of the continental European cargo's previous most recent prior deep-sea cargo purchase was a shipment in a $210-215/t cfr Turkey range for continental European HMS 1/2 80:20 from the same supplier.
Any deals that still need to be done for May shipment are likely to trade at similar levels to the new $253/t-equivalent deal because of the higher-priced stock relative to seaborne prices that has been accumulated by exporters in around the past 10 days as dockside purchasing prices have increased.
Turkish steelmakers are targeting lower prices for June shipment scrap cargoes, with bid indications currently closer to $240-245/t cfr Turkey for premium HMS 1/2 80:20 based on a fall in domestic and export rebar prices this week.
Bid indications from European rebar importers for June shipment were confirmed today at around $400/t fob Turkey on actual weight basis, which would give mills a $160/t spread to scrap if they could drop the HMS 1/2 80:20 cfr price to $240/t. This spread is expected to be viable for Turkish steelmakers, particularly following the depreciation of the lira against the US dollar in April.
Two European rebar importers said today that they expect $400/t fob Turkey to be the floor price for June shipment because of the limited availability of scrap.
Turkish domestic rebar was yesterday offered at the equivalent of $407-410/t ex-works excluding VAT. There were no domestic offers today because of the start of a full four-day Covid-19 restriction lockdown across 31 Turkish cities.
Deep-sea scrap exporters have not yet shown any interest to engage with the lower Turkish bid indications for June shipment as overall availability remains extremely tight. But some deep-sea scrap suppliers are preparing for lower prices into Turkey.
One continental European exporter quoted a bid level of €180/t delivered to dock for HMS 1/2 80:20 today, down from the €195-205/t level at which purchases were made at the end of last week and beginning of this week.
A second continental European exporter told sub-suppliers it will not be buying any more scrap in the immediate future. It was heard to be finalising the tonnages for a cargo sold to Egypt earlier this which means it is under no immediate pressure to source new volume.
Baltic and Russian exporters showed very different signals today, quoting $260/t cfr Turkey offer indications for premium HMS 1/2 80:20. Russian domestic ferrous scrap prices moved higher again over the past week as most buyers continued to increase bids further to support inflows amid limited supply and collection rates significantly pressured by the country's anti-Covid-19 quarantine measures.
The Argus weekly central European Russia A3 grade scrap assessment settled at 14,343 roubles/t fca today, Rbs1,043/t ($13.54/t) up from last week. The US dollar-denominated equivalent rose less sharply by $5.74/t to $186.17/t as the rouble depreciated by 4.5pc against the US currency in the past week amid oil market volatility.
In the short-sea Turkish import market, the Argus daily A3 cif Marmara steel scrap and A3 Russia-Ukraine fob Black Sea steel scrap assessments dropped $3/t to $250/t and $227/t based on Black Sea supplier indication of a minimum of $250/t for HMS 1/2 80:20.
