Turkish mills continue to pull down domestic scrap buying prices

Turkish steel mills continued to cut their lira-denominated domestic scrap buying prices for the third consecutive day on Dec. 24, as the currency continued to strengthen after the government announced support measures Dec. 20.

Turkish deepsea import ferrous scrap prices inched up on Dec. 23, as a fresh Venezuela-origin cargo was booked. S&P Global Platts assessed Turkish imports of premium heavy melting scrap 1/2 (80:20) Dec. 23 at $461/mt CFR, up $1/mt on the day. The index has fluctuated in a $460-$465/mt CFR range since Dec. 15.

Colakoglu, one of Turkey’s largest EAF-based steelmakers, cut its domestic buying price again for DKP grade (auto bundle) scrap in this sentiment to Lira 6,055/mt ($510) on Dec. 24, while the company’s extra grade domestic scrap buying price fell by the same amount to Lira 5,580/mt ($470/mt). The exchange rate was Lira 11.9/$1 on Dec. 24 at 12 pm Turkey Time.

The DKP scrap buying price for one of Turkey’s largest alloy steel producers, Asil Celik, was set at Lira 5,965/mt ($502/mt), while the company’s extra grade domestic scrap buying price fell to Lira 5,200/mt ($438/mt).

Kardemir, Turkey’s integrated long steelmaker pulled down its extra grade domestic scrap buying price to Lira 6,115/mt ($516/mt) on Dec. 24. The Eregli mill of Erdemir Group, Turkey’s largest integrated steelmaker, also cut its DKP domestic scrap price to Lira 5,835/mt ($493/mt), while its extra-grade scrap buying price declined to Lira 5,830 ($492/mt), according to the mill’s updated domestic scrap buying price lists seen by S&P Global Platts.

Turkish mills use 30 million mt of steel scrap per year and have been procuring about a quarter of it from the domestic market.

— Cenk Can