DAILY STEEL SCRAP: Turkish mills resume deep-sea bookings for June shipments

A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo consisting of 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $427.50 per tonne cfr.

This compared with the most recent deep-sea transactions heard on April 21, when two Baltic Sea suppliers secured bookings at $426-427 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis, while a European supplier sold a mixed cargo at $429 per tonne cfr.

As a result, the daily scrap indices remained fairly stable on April 27.

Fastmarkets’ daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $425.56 per tonne on Tuesday, up by only $0.09 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 $431.53 per tonne, also up by $0.09 per tonne day on day, leaving the premium for US material over European scrap at $5.97 per tonne.

Market participants were expecting prices to remain firm because the steel markets in Asia have been strong, pushing iron ore prices to record highs.

Fastmarkets’ index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao, rose to a new record high on Tuesday, with other iron ore prices going up further on support from the current strength of finished steel prices.

Fastmarkets’ daily index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao, was calculated at $195.31 per tonne, up by $1.73 per tonne day on day.

Meanwhile, the Turkish government has imposed a full lockdown in the country to last for more than two weeks, from April 29 until May 16, due to increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases.

Fastmarkets was told that steel mills would be keeping their production lines in operation during the lockdown period, but that traders and warehouses would all be closed.