Turkish import ferrous scrap found a firm berth on Wednesday after a deluge of deals Tuesday, sources said.
A premium basis for the market from US sellers was affirmed by two further sales on Tuesday, caught after the market-on-close time-stamp of 16:30 for the ferrous scrap assessment. Both trades saw the heavy melting scrap I/II 80:20 cargo at a price of $219/mt, with one being a second cargo from the first US exporter to sell at this level.
Two other cargoes were heard. The first came from a UK merchant at the established level of $215/mt. Sources in the market were baffled by the tight differential to the US sales, as material from this particular seller has been understood to be up to $10/mt lower than from top-tier marked yards. "When you take into account higher freight from the UK, they're practically the same," said a US trader.
European trade silence was broken on Tuesday in addition to that from the US. A yard sold a mixed cargo averaging at $215/mt to an Iskenderun based buyer. The 75:25 portion normalized under $210/mt, meaning an equivalent 80:20 price of less than $219/mt.
"This doesn't make sense, you can't buy material in cheap enough to afford this," said a seller for another European scrap yard. "It's too aggressive."
Mills expect a further drop, as offers are flush in the wake of eleven total cargoes booked on Tuesday. Premium US and Baltic merchants were heard to be in the market, alongside European sellers. Merchants known to sell to individual mills were even heard to be shopping cargoes around, as the blooming availability gave hope to Turkish buyers for a further price drop.
"There should be three or four more cargoes this week," said a Turkish buyer. "We have two days until the holiday and lots of material is available, so there's no panic from the buyers."
Next week will see four days of public holiday for Turkey as Ramadan comes to a close.
