A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo late on Thursday, consisting of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $488 per tonne and shredded and bonus at $498 per tonne cfr.
This compared with deep-sea bookings done earlier the same day at $479-480 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis from the Baltic Sea region.
As a result, the daily scrap indices continued to rise at the end of the week.
Fastmarkets’ daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $488.83 per tonne on Friday, up by $10.30 per tonne day on day.
And the daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $493.40 per tonne on May 7, up by $10.29 per tonne day on day.
This put the premium for US material over European scrap at $4.57 per tonne on May 7, compared with $4.58 per tonne a day earlier.
The Turkish steel producers have been active in the deep-sea markets since China’s Ministry of Finance removed the export tax rebate on some steel products on May 1.
The changes in Chinese tax policy have resulted in significant rises in the prices for steel billet and finished long steel products in Turkey, which made mills pay more for scrap.
The Turkish steel producers have booked at least 10 deep-sea cargoes so far this week.
A steel mill in the Marmara region booked two Baltic Sea cargoes at $479 and $480 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20), while another steel mill in the Izmir region paid $479 per tonne cfr for a similar cargo on Thursday.
More deep-sea deals were closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a European cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (75:25) at $446 and bonus at $461 per tonne cfr.
A steel mill in the Izmir region booked another European cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $451 per tonne and bonus at $463 per tonne cfr.
A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a UK cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $468 per tonne, shredded at $478 per tonne and bonus at $483 per tonne cfr.
Another steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a European cargo, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) and 5,000 tonnes of a mixture of plate and structural (P&S) and HMS 1, at an average price of $466 per tonne cfr.
A steel mill in northern Turkey booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 15,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $471 per tonne and 15,000 tonnes of shredded at $481 per tonne cfr.
And the same mill also booked a European cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $463 per tonne, shredded at $468 per tonne and bonus at $473 per tonne cfr.
