DAILY STEEL SCRAP: Mills push for lower deep-sea prices

Turkish steel producers continued to push for lower deep-sea scrap prices, while suppliers in the Baltic Sea and United States continued to maintain higher offers, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday April 20.

At least three deep-sea cargoes were booked on Friday April 16.

The most recent was heard after the indices closed on Monday April 19.

A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a European cargo at $416 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20). The cargo breakdown, however, was not clear at the time of publication.

A deal for a European cargo of the same material was done at $417 per tonne cfr on.

As a result of the latest European transaction, the daily scrap indices inched down on Tuesday April 20.

Fastmarkets’ daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was calculated at $416.25 per tonne on April 20, down by $0.75 per tonne day on day.

And the daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey was $422.22 per tonne on Tuesday, also down by $0.75 per tonne day on day, leaving the premium for US material over European scrap at $5.97 per tonne.

Turkish steelmakers were pushing for $415-420 per tonne for HMS 1&2 (80:20) but Baltic Sea suppliers were still offering material at $425 per tonne or higher on Tuesday, while the US scrap was on offer at $430 per tonne cfr.

“It seems the prices will remain firm on the supplier side, but the buyers are not accepting the current offers, [which are] $5-10 per tonne higher than the previous bookings,” said a trading source.

In the meantime, offers for short-sea A3-grade scrap were around $405 per tonne cfr from the Black Sea.

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This price is a part of the Fastmarkets scrap package. For more information on our North America Ferrous Scrap methodology and specifications please click here. To get in touch about access to this price assessment, please contact customer.success@fastmarkets.com.