DAILY STEEL SCRAP: Collapse of Turkish lira leaves market quiet

Turkish steel mills remained absent from the deep-sea scrap import market on Wednesday March 24, due to the slump in the value of the lira and weak steel demand, market participants told Fastmarkets.

The Turkish lira weakened sharply at the beginning of the week following the surprise decision by president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to sack central bank chief Naci Agbal and appoint a finance specialist, and former deputy leader of Erdogan’s own AKP political party, Sahap Kavcioglu, as governor.

The Turkish lira was trading at 7.914-7.933 lira to $1 at 4pm on Wednesday, according to the ‘live’ rate on Oanda.com, compared with the daily conversion rate of 7.260 lira to $1 on Friday.

After the sharp decrease in the country’s currency, trading in the Turkish steel markets came to a sudden halt at the start of the week, with buyers and sellers all withdrawing from the market until the currency fluctuation settles down.

Demand for long steel products in the export market was already limited before the currency crash, with no significant bookings heard since last week.

Turkish steel mills lowered their rebar export offers by $10 per tonne to $620-625 per tonne fob on an actual-weight basis, but could still not encourage buyers.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob main port Turkey, was $620-630 per tonne fob on Thursday, March 18, down from previous week’s $640-650 per tonne.

“The market is completely dead at the moment. Everybody is just watching where the dollar/lira rate goes. Buying scrap is not the priority now,” said a Turkish source.

As a result of the lack of trading activity, the daily scrap indices remained static on Wednesday, March 24.

Fastmarkets’ daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $428.81 per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged day on day.

And the daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, was also flat day on day on Wednesday at $438.17 per tonne, leaving the premium for US material over European scrap at $9.36 per tonne on March 24.

What to read next
The publication of Fastmarkets’ European heavy plate price assessments was delayed by 51 minutes. The prices impacted by the delayed publication were the following: MB-STE-0034 Steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Northern Europe, €/tonne MB-STE-0035 Steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe, €/tonne MB-STE-0049 Steel plate (8-40mm) import, cfr main port Northern Europe, €/tonne MB-STE-0050 Steel plate (8-40mm) import, cfr […]
Explore the latest trends in Nordic timber as companies navigate profitability challenges in the forest industry.
Fastmarkets has corrected the rationale for its MB-AL-0346 Aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs dup Rotterdam, $/tonne that was published incorrectly on Tuesday August 19.
Fastmarkets proposes to launch a new monthly price assessment for green petroleum coke, 1.5% S, in-whs ARA, $/tonne.
This reflects changing market dynamics with a preference from market participants for more visibility on a price for Laos-origin material while noting liquidity decline on an FOB Southern Turkey basis. The proposed price specifications will be as follows: Barite, drilling grade, unground lump, API, bulk, SG 4.10 fob Vietnam, $ per tonneQuality: API grade, SG 4.10 […]
Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on the pricing methodologies for European graphic paper, as part of its announced annual methodology review process.