The Turkish scrap market came to life again on Wednesday with a number of offers reported by market participants.
All offers were below Tuesday's spot price and ranged between $362-$368/mt CFR for 80:20.
A Benelux origin cargo of 10,000 mt shredded, 10,000 mt bonus and 20,000 mt HMS 75:25 material was reported by market participants to have been offered at an average cargo price of $363/mt CFR.
Under S&P Global Platts calculations, this would equate to an 80:20 value of $362/mt.
A Turkish agent said he heard a Baltic-origin offer at $368/mt CFR, while a European trader said he had heard offers at $360-$362/mt, as well as at $365/mt CFR.
Another European trader said he believes tradeable value has dropped below $360/mt, stating that new price levels are around $352-355/mt in his opinion.
"The market is not going good," said a Turkish agent in reference to the direction of the scrap price.
A Benelux trader said that he does not expect deals to be heard in the market for another two weeks, and that these will then be in the range $360-$365/mt CFR for 80:20.
He said that at the moment Turkish mills are pressuring prices down before completing the deals.
"Not hearing anything on billet and scrap, mills claim to be focused on rebar sales," said a Turkish agent.
He added that he thinks order books are nearly full for February and March and that the majority of scrap collectors have softened collection prices in anticipation of lower price levels.
"Scrap is [currently] nowhere as there are no buyers. In order to build a market level you will need buyers," he said.
He also said that mills do not want to drop the prices for semi-finished and longs, and so we are currently in a no buying period.
Prices look to be down globally, as one trader pointed to Spanish short sea material trading at Euro265-270/mt for 80:20, down from Euro280/mt on Tuesday, while another trader said prices were also softening in the Indian scrap market.
Platts TSI assessed Turkish imports of premium heavy melting scrap I/II (80:20) at $362.50/mt CFR Wednesday, down $10/mt from Tuesday's assessment.
