Scrap prices in the Benelux continued their upward trend throughout last week, exceeding the €300/tonne threshold.
Exporters’ dock prices in the Benelux were pegged mostly at around €295-305/t ($320-331.5) delivered on Monday, up from €285-290/t a week earlier.
Exporters seem reluctant to commit to large tonnages due to the slowdown in Turkish demand towards the end of last week. On the other hand, suppliers, having high-priced material in their stocks, are trying to keep their offers firm at around €300-305/t levels, due to the limited supply in the region.
One Benelux supplier tells Kallanish: “Steel supply is still tight. Suppliers that have high-priced material in their stocks are thus refusing to sell at below €300/t. The prices can be balanced only if the flow increases at lower prices.”
Turkish mills, after booking a large amount of imported scrap in the last two weeks and covering their urgent requirements, slowed their scrap demand amid unsupportive steel sales. The latest bookings for HMS 1&2 80:20 in Turkey were concluded at $368.5-370/t cfr from the EU and at $370-372/t cfr from the Baltic and US. A supplier tells Kallanish that Turkey booked almost 25 deep-sea cargoes recently.
Most market participants in Turkey think the scrap price rises have come to an end for now unless Turkey sees a significant improvement in steel sales this week. Some even think that scrap prices will start falling again due to the availability of many unsold cargoes in the market versus Turkey’s frozen demand.
In India, offers for containerised shredded were at around $435/t cfr Nhava Sheva on Monday following the latest bookings at $430-432/t cfr. Scrap demand from Indian mills remains strong.
Burcak Alpman Turkey
