DAILY STEEL SCRAP: Mills silent during Eid holidays

Turkish steel mills remained absent from the deep-sea market on Friday May 14 as a result of the post-Ramadan Eid al-Fitr holiday, sources told Fastmarkets.

Turkey began the religious holiday on the afternoon of May 12 and it will continue until May 15, with market activity expected to resume on Monday May 17.

Fastmarkets’ daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $502.25 per tonne on Friday unchanged day on day.

The corresponding daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, was also unchanged at $506.83 per tonne on May 14.

Mills booked a handful of cargoes this week before the market went quiet for Eid.

On Tuesday a steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $495 per tonne and plate and structural (P&S) at $505 per tonne cfr. The cargo breakdown was not clear at the time of publication.

Late on Wednesday, it emerged that a steel mill in the Iskenderun region had booked a Baltic sea cargo comprising 18,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $510 per tonne.

Earlier the same day, a mill in the Izmir region booked a cargo from the UK comprising 6,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $499 per tonne and 18,000 tonnes of shredded scrap at $519 per tonne and a mill in the Iskenderun region booked a European cargo comprising 6,000 tonnes of a mixture of HMS 1 and plate & structural scrap (P&S), 10,000 tonnes of shredded scrap, 4,000 tonnes of new cuttings and 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20). The average price was $500 per tonne.

And another Iskenderun mill booked a Baltic Sea cargo comprising 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $500 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bonus-grade scrap at $510 per tonne.

Three other cargoes also came to light late on Wednesday, two from the Baltic Sea and one European shipment, but market participants said these were older cargoes, given their sub-$500 per tonne price levels, so they were not included in the indices this week.

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