Following the latest scrap booking on Thursday, from Sweden, scrap suppliers further increased their offer prices on Friday.
The Swedish-origin deal was concluded by a long steel producer at $488/tonne cfr Turkey for HMS 1&2 80:20 and $498/t cfr for shredded and bonus grade. On the same day, numerous Baltic-origin bookings were concluded at $479-480/t cfr. Following the latest deal at $488/t cfr, scrap prices have taken one step closer to the $500/t cfr threshold.
On Friday, there were numerous Baltic-origin offers varying at $490-500/t cfr for HMS 1&2 80:20. European suppliers are heard offering at above $485/t cfr, while US suppliers, who are targeting higher prices, are not in the market.
Romania-origin scrap was concluded at $450/t cfr on Friday.
Most Turkish mills, facing higher scrap offers, meanwhile, were seen to have backed off from the export market on Friday. Iron ore and billet prices also further increased on the same day.
Most mills refrained from giving rebar and wire rod export offers on Friday, while preparing for higher prices on Monday. The ones that were offering material have increased their rebar prices to above $720/t fob actual weight from $700-715/t fob a day earlier.
Kallanish hears that a Turkish mill has sold rebar to Singapore at a $710/t fob actual weight equivalent price. This was however not confirmed at press time. Containerised and smaller-volumes cargoes were sold at $710-720/t fob, depending on the region.
Wire rod offers have also seen a sharp increase. While offers are at above $800/t fob, a Turkish mill is heard to have sold 5,000 tonnes to Brazil at $800/t fob.
Domestic rebar offers also increased further on Friday, to $705-717/t ex-works, excluding VAT, from $691-710/t on Thursday.
Burcak Alpman Turkey
