Limited supplies and relatively active alternative markets have kept prices for imported recyclable steel elevated, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday August 23.
A new deal for US-origin scrap at $402 per tonne cfr, made on August 22, came to light after the indices were filed on August 23, and any correction in the indices for Northern Europe- and United States-origin imported scrap was expected to be reflected during Wednesday’s pricing session.
Meanwhile, Fastmarkets’ calculation of its daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $394.72 per tonne on August 23, unchanged day-on-day, but down by $5.01 per tonne from $399.73 per tonne on August 16.
The corresponding calculation of the daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was $389.06 per tonne on Tuesday, also unchanged day-on-day and also down by $5.01 per tonne from $394.07 per tonne one week earlier.
This left the premium for US material over European steel scrap at $5.66 per tonne on August 23.
According to Worldsteel data, Turkey cut its steel production in July by 20.7% year-on-year.
A producer source said that this trend was expected to extend into August and September because of the weak demand for finished steel.
