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A steel mill in the Marmara region booked the cargo at $410-413 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis. The cargo breakdown was not clear at the time of publication.
This compared with previous Baltic Sea cargoes sold at $435-437 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis on March 12.
As a result, the daily scrap indices went down sharply on March 25.
Fastmarkets’ daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $404.66 per tonne on Thursday, down by $24.15 per tonne day on day.
And the daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, was $414.02 per tonne, also down by $24.15 per tonne day on day, leaving the premium for US material over European scrap at $9.36 per tonne on March 25.
Turkish steelmakers continued to stay away from deep-sea scrap purchases, however, intending to put further pressure on prices, because their finished steel sales have come to a halt on a sharp downturn in the Turkish currency, which has raised domestic long steel prices.
Demand for rebar and wire rod exports has also been limited in recent weeks.
“Although Turkish long steel exports are [statistically] higher compared with last year, demand is limited. And demand in the EU is weak, thereby putting pressure on long steel prices,” the chief executive at a major steelmaker said. “This was also why mills could not pay current scrap prices and have stayed away from the deep-sea scrap market.”