Reuters reported that steel scrap prices fell for a fourth week in a row on weak demand from top importer Turkey and as improving weather conditions in the largest exporting countries boosted supply availability.
Steel scrap, a key ingredient for steel products such as billet and rebar, sold at USD 418 per tonne to USD 447 per tonne cost and freight Turkey this week down from USD 440 per tonne 450 per tonne CFR last week.
A European scrap broker said that recyclers will have to cut their prices if they want to sell anything. The problem is finished products. The steel sale crisis is very serious and Turkish producers are buying smaller scrap cargoes from the Black Sea at USD 422 CFR.
Short sea cargoes from neighboring countries are generally a cheaper source of small volumes of scrap for Turkish producers while recyclers in the United States and Europe offer higher volumes of material in bigger ships.
Traders said that black Sea billet prices have fallen in the past month as political unrest in key importing areas in North Africa and the Middle East has depressed investment in construction and demand for billet. Overproduction is also dogging the steel market.
They said that poor sales of steel scrap to Turkey weighed on domestic prices in Europe and the US the main exporting areas. European domestic prices fell on average USD 5 per tonne to USD 15 per tonne and US domestic prices fell by about USD 2 per tonne to USD 3 per tonne from last week.
Turkish steel mills are likely to come back into the market to buy some more scrap this week or next as many of them are running low on stocks, but whether they will buy volumes high enough to lift prices is not known, a Turkish producer said.
A raw materials buyer at an Italian steelmaker said that the only other variable that may move prices up at the moment is China. US recyclers were offering heavy melting scrap 1&2 at about USD 435 per tonne to USD 440 per tonne CFR Turkey but given the scarce demand from Turkey they turned to China for some sales.
Traders said that China and South Korea bought 20 deep-sea cargoes of steel scrap at USD 477 to USD 480 CFR in the past two weeks but this wasn''t enough to move prices up.
( Source: www.steelguru.com )