Turkey ferrous: Price up on Baltic deal

The Turkish scrap import price increased on Thursday on a Baltic sale to a Marmara mill concluded for June shipment.

The Argus daily HMS 1/2 80:20 cfr Turkey steel scrap assessment moved up by $3.20/t to $435/t cfr.

A Baltic supplier sold HMS 1/2 80:20 at $435/t and bonus at $445/t cfr Marmara for June shipment today.

A Marmara mill was heard to sell rebar to the US a few days ago at the equivalent of $655/t fob Turkey.

Firmer offer indications from deep-sea scrap suppliers appeared today after China officially announced yesterday that it will eliminate tax rebates on steel product exports, which is expected to lift global steel prices and Turkish steelmakers' competitiveness in overseas markets.

US deep-sea scrap offers were heard to have risen to a minimum $440/t cfr Turkey for premium HMS 1/2 80:20. Turkish mills found it difficult to find offers today which will have influenced the price rise indicated by the Baltic deal.

Most Chinese steel producers already started to factor in the cancellation of the export rebate several weeks ago and adjusted offers upward accordingly, which caused an equivalent spread of $150/t to open up between Turkish and Chinese offers into southeast Asia for rebar exports.

Turkish mills will likely try to maintain this spread to build global market share having already sold to southeast Asia at prices $150/t below Chinese offers two to three weeks ago. Mills will face strong competition from the likes of India, Qatar and now Algeria, which made its first sale of rebar to China this week. But for now, Turkish steelmakers are in a position to increase rebar export offers based on the wide spread to China.

Several Turkish mills also continue to receive strong demand from China for imported billet and another deal was heard concluded this week at $665-670/t cfr China.

Turkey's domestic rebar market also showed stronger demand today, either because of higher mill offer levels or because of the news from China.

Several mills were heard to make local rebar sales of 5,000t of more, and price levels were achieved in Marmara at slightly higher than $630/t ex-works excluding VAT.

In the short-sea imported Turkish scrap market, the Argus daily A3 cif Marmara assessment was flat at $410/t.