DAILY STEEL SCRAP: Mills book more deep-sea cargoes despite sharp price rises

A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo at $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.

These were compared with the previous Baltic Sea cargo sold on Wednesday May 5 at $471 per tonne cfr on HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis.

The daily scrap indices therefore continued climbing on Thursday May 6.

Fastmarkets’ daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $478.53 per tonne on Thursday, up by $9.31 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 $483.11 per tonne on May 6, up by $9.31 per tonne day on day, leaving the premium for US material over European scrap at $4.58 per tonne on May 6.

The Marmara region mill also booked a second Baltic Sea cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $479 per tonne and bonus scrap at $489 per tonne cfr.

More deep-sea deals from Tuesday and Wednesday May 4-5 came to light on Thursday.

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 on May 4.

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.

And 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 on May 4.

A 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.

The main reason behind the increase was China’s Ministry of Finance removing the export tax rebate on some steel products on May 1, which caused a sharp increase in the steel prices across the region and in countries exporting steel products to Asian territories.

“After the sharp increases in the prices before, we were actually expecting a strong correction. However, China’s decision to remove the tax rebate on some steel products changed the price dynamics. It seems the scrap prices will be at minimum $400 per tonne cfr until 2023,” a Turkish trader said.