DAILY STEEL SCRAP: Mills stay away from deep-sea deals during holiday, lockdown periods

Turkish steelmakers remained quiet in the seaborne scrap market on the second working day of the week amid holiday and lockdown periods, market sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday May 18.

May 18, 2021

By Cem Turken

The country observed the post-Ramadan religious holiday, Eid al-Fitr from May 12 and ended during the country’s full lockdown between April 29 and May 16 put in place in an attempt to halt a third wave of Covid-19 cases.

Turkey will again be on holiday on Wednesday May 19 due to the national commemoration of former president Kemal Atatürk, as well as the youth and sports day.

“The market is generally quiet due to the holiday period and because of the recent upturn in prices. Mills are now on wait-and-see mode and in no hurry for scrap bookings,” a Turkish mill source said.

The most recent deep-sea transaction was heard last week, when a steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Baltic Sea cargo comprising 18,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $510 per tonne.

As a result of the lack of fresh trading activity, Fastmarkets’ daily scrap indices remained static on Tuesday May 18.

The daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was calculated at $502.25 per tonne, while the corresponding daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), United States origin, cfr Turkey was also flat at $506.83 per tonne on May 18, leaving the premium for US material over European scrap unchanged at $4.58 per tonne.