Having remained silent until April 4, Turkey has bought an ex-US scrap cargo at a lower price level. Most market players think that this is not the start of a downtrend but a small correction amid the resistance observed from Turkish mills, which had been trying to halt the rising price trend before the local elections on March 31.
“Once again, the question we are asking is what the US-based scrap suppliers will do,” a scrap seller commented. US scrap sellers were aggressive in recent months and exerted downward pressure on the overall market, changing the mood rapidly. Market players currently want to monitor the situation to see whether the US will do the same this month. However, the local US scrap market is expected to move sideways when purchases for the April buy-cycle start. Meanwhile, European scrap collection prices remain firm. A Netherlands-based export yard has accepted to pay €317/mt DAP for scrap when collecting, while higher levels are currently receiving resistance from yards. A German scrap sub-collector mentioned they have failed to gain acceptance for $320/mt DAP so far and are considering lowering their inventory levels a little to ease some of the pressure coming from inventory costs.
Some market players believe activity in Turkey’s deep sea scrap segment may recover after the Eid holiday and that finished steel sales will also recover. Turkey will mostly be out of the market in the coming week due to the holiday.
Under the current conditions, the deep sea benchmark HMS I/II 80:20 scrap prices in CFR terms have moved down by 1.54 percent week on week. The prices are now 1.6 percent higher month on month in the deep sea segment, with prices being in the range of $379-384/mt CFR.
Sources close to SteelOrbis have confirmed that scrap prices in the US Northeast have settled at sideways across the board for April. US Ohio Valley scrap prices have settled sideways across the board for April, with HMS, primes and shredded prices unchanged from March levels.
This week, everything has remained unchanged in the local Italian scrap market as most mills have confirmed their purchase prices and suppliers describe a “flat calm” situation where new orders are scarce. Even though steel mills plan to stop or slow down production due to the shortage of orders for finished products, market participants do not expect any downturns as scrap supply continues to be tight. One market participant expressed confidence that scrap prices will not fall, adding that a rebound is more likely if demand for the raw material from steel mills improves.
The Spanish scrap market has also remained stable over the past week and market participants do not expect any major changes for April.
Although the Vietnamese scrap market has remained quiet and trading is still on the low side, some suppliers are asking for higher price levels.
SteelOrbis has learned that Japanese H2 scrap offers to Vietnam are in the range of $375-380/mt CFR, moving up from $372-375/mt CFR recorded in offers last week. Vietnam is not showing much interest in ex-US bulk HMS I/II 80:20 scrap either. Indications for this grade are now at $385-390/mt CFR Vietnam, obviously higher than Vietnamese buyers’ price ideas for import scrap.
This week, Tokyo Bay FAS-based prices for H2 grade scrap remained at JPY 51,000/mt ($337/mt).
As a result, SteelOrbis’ reference price for ex-Japan H2 scrap has moved down slightly to JPY 49,500-51,500/mt ($327-340/mt) FOB from JPY 50,500-51,500/mt ($333-341/mt) FOB.
In Bangladesh, trade activity in the import scrap market has been showing a slowdown amid Ramadan and the upcoming Eid holiday, while import scrap prices have edged up slightly in most offers and new levels have even been fixed in occasional deals, mainly for containerized scrap, while trade has remained in a lull in the bulk segment. More specifically, at least 2,000-3,000 mt of ex-Australia shredded scrap have been booked at $420/mt on average, against $415-420/mt CFR last week. Besides, another deal for ex-Australia HMS I/II 80:20 scrap has been reported at $400/mt CFR, while offers for ex-Australia PNS scrap have been voiced at $430-435/mt CFR, up by $5/mt over the past week. Furthermore, a deal for ex-Hong Kong PNS scrap has been confirmed at $435/mt CFR this week, versus the deal price at $432/mt CFR last week.
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Import scrap prices in Pakistan have remained largely unchanged or with an upward bias in occasional deals over the past week. Specifically, most offers for ex-EU/UK shredded scrap in containers have been voiced at $420-425/mt CFR, up by $5/mt week on week. Meanwhile, most deals including those for ex-EU/UK and also for UAE origin are reported to have been signed at $418-420/mt CFR, versus $413-415/mt CFR last week. At the same time, according to sources, trade activity has remained slow in Pakistan mainly amid the ongoing liquidity crisis, while most customers have been busy with utility bill payments.