This week Turkish ferrous scrap importers have been buying the material from wherever they can. An upturn in buying activity has been prompted by suppliers' flexible pricing policy. Some of them have decided to delay a rise in quotations, while others have even granted concessions.
At the beginning of the week buyers booked European and Canadian material. A batch of European HMS 1&2 (80:20) was purchased at $466/t C&F Turkey, unchanged w-o-w. Another Turkish trading company signed a contract for HMS 1&2 (70:30) from the Netherlands at $436.5/t C&F, $10.5/t down from the latest import deals. A batch of 15,000 t of shredded scrap and 26,000 t of A3 material from Europe was booked at $469/t C&F.
At the same time, a Canadian supplier has booked two mixed scrap lots including 15,000 t of HMS 1, 30,000 t of shredded scrap and 5,000 t of P&S material at $469/t C&F Turkey, against $474/t C&F two weeks ago.
In the middle of the week Turkish buyers signed deals with US exporters, who agreed to ship the material to Turkey at unchanged prices, though they have been making quite successful deals with Asian consumers. In particular, one of the steelmakers bought 2 mixed batches of scrap (20,000 t of HMS 1&2 (80:20), 15,000 t of shredded scrap and 5,000 t of P&S material) from different scrap collectors at $469/t C&F, $474/t C&F and $479/t C&F respectively. A couple of days later a Turkish consumer purchased 10,000 t of shredded scrap and 15,000 t of HMS 1&2 (90:10) at $470/t C&F. Besides, one of the major US supplier sold an HMS 1&2 (80:20) lot at $469/t C&F.
Negotiations with CIS exporters were also fruitful. Scrap collectors accepted buyers' bids, as they needed to get rid of the material they had accumulated. As a result, Ukrainian A3 material was sold at $449-455/t C&F Turkey, although previously most suppliers from that country refused to sell it below $455-460/t C&F. Russian exporters were less flexible. Those in Azov and Black Sea ports did not want to cut quotations below $458-463/t C&F. That is why there are no deals with them so far. Meanwhile, a scrap trader from St. Petersburg sold a batch of A3 scrap at $461/t C&F, although most traders in the region quote $465/t C&F minimum.
Market players believe Turkish steelmakers will continue to import ferrous scrap in the short term, signing deals within the same price range as this week.
( Source: www.metalexpert-group.com )