DAILY STEEL SCRAP: Prices down in latest deep-sea bookings

Turkish steel mills continued their deep-sea scrap purchases at a slow pace at the beginning of the week, trying to put further pressure on prices, market participants told Fastmarkets on Monday July 12.

A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a European cargo, comprising 28,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (75:25) and 2,000 tonnes of a mixture of bonus and HMS 1, at an average price of $486.50 per tonne cfr.

The same mill also booked a total of 14,000 tonnes of US cargo, consisting of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $493 per tonne and shredded at $508 per tonne cfr. This volume was additional to a previous cargo booked on June 16 at $500 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20). The vessel was in the loading dock, Fastmarkets was told.

These deals compared with the previous deep-sea cargo trades heard at the end of last week at $496-498 per tonne cfr for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20).

Following these transactions, the daily scrap indices went down at the beginning of the week.

The daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was calculated at $487.19 per tonne on July 12, down by $6.06 per tonne day on day.

Fastmarkets’ corresponding index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey was $494.82 per tonne on Monday, down by $6.07 per tonne day on day.

This put the premium for US material over European scrap at $7.63 per tonne on July 12, compared with $7.64 per tonne on July 9.

The overall demand for deep-sea scrap was described as limited because the mills in Turkey were only buying material to meet urgent needs, according to market participants.

Fastmarkets has recorded only nine cargo trades so far in July, compared with 36 deep-sea cargoes for the whole of the corresponding month of 2020.