Turkey ferrous: Price flat on Baltic deal

The Turkish scrap import price was flat on Tuesday on a Baltic sale to a Marmara steelmaker concluded today for end of July / beginning of August shipment.

The Argus daily HMS 1/2 80:20 cfr Turkey steel scrap assessment was flat at $501/t cfr today.

A Baltic supplier was heard to sell 20,000t of HMS 1/2 80:20 at $501/t and 5,000t of bonus at $511/t cfr Marmara for end of July / beginning of August shipment today.

Turkish mills found it difficult to attract sellers willing to follow their downward indications yesterday, particularly from continental Europe and the US.

Several continental European suppliers will not sell below $500/t cfr Turkey for their HMS 1/2 80:20 material this week. Regional scrap exporters in the Netherlands cannot secure material below €360/t ($438.50/t) delivered dock today. Shredded and higher-grade material is being eaten up by European domestic mills this week and next week based on the combination of relatively tight supply and strong demand.

Discussions in Germany turned more bullish overnight with suppliers looking for HMS material to trade €50/t higher for June delivery than May, a significantly greater increase than was expected last week. #1 HMS prices in Germany could trade around €400/t delivered mill.

Turkish mills will have to pay a certain premium for shred compared to normal, particularly if they do not push bids up significantly for HMS material.

Turkish mills indicated around $490/t cfr Turkey for premium HMS 1/2 80:20 yesterday but there was no interest from the supply side to move offers anywhere close to this level. There is a consensus amongst many suppliers that mills still have around 17-18 deep-sea cargoes still to buy for July shipment, and that there is no need to offer while the mills stay out of the market and US/European demand absorbs significant volumes.

US east coast #1 HMS dockside purchasing prices stand at around $420-430/gt delivered to dock, and there is no sign that prices can come under pressure any time soon after last week's increases.

Some Turkish mills increased their official domestic rebar offers this morning, potentially in light of the resistance from scrap sellers and the narrowing scrap-rebar spreads. The moves were met with some improved demand, with two Marmara mills heard to have sold around 3,000-4,000t each at around $700/t ex-works excluding VAT, up on sales in the region at $690/t ex-works last week. Iskenderun mills were heard to sell tonnages at TL7,000/t ex-works including VAT today, equivalent to $690.60/t ex-works excluding VAT.

A Marmara mill was heard to have closed an export rebar sale to Canada at $725/t fob in the past few business days, which also indicates that some overseas demand is being attracted to the $35-50/t fall in Turkish long steel prices.

The level of the Baltic-Marmara scrap trade today indicates import scrap-export rebar spreads have fallen around $20/t in the past month. Scrap-domestic rebar spreads have fallen around $25/t in the same period.

On no change in bid-offer indications, the Argus daily A3 cif Marmara steel scrap assessment was flat at $470/t.