Turkey's steelmakers book South Africa, Benelux and Baltic scrap cargoes
Turkey's steelmakers booked several deepsea scrap cargoes at the end of the week from Benelux, Baltic and South Africa suppliers as the US East Coast's biggest recyclers continued to hold out for higher prices, market participants said Friday.
One cargo containing 21,000 mt of heavy melting scrap I/II (80/20 blend) and 21,000 mt of bonus grade material was booked at an average price of $394/mt CFR Iskenderun by an electric arc furnace.
A South Africa-based trader moved its third bulk cargo to Turkey in the last few weeks, selling at $388.50/mt CFR Iskenderun for 23,000 mt of HMS I/II (80/20 blend) and 7,000 mt of shred at $393.50/mt CFR. The trader normally sells its material to India, but the South Asia market has been subdued in recent months.
Platts daily assessment reacted to the above trades, slipping $1 to $389/mt CFR Turkish ports for HMS I/II (80/20 blend) on Friday.
US-origin bulk suppliers were still targeting $395/mt CFR for HMS I/II (80/20 blend).
Two Baltic suppliers also were heard selling cargoes at the end of the week, with one Marmara mill purchasing at $389/mt CFR for Scandinavian HMS I/II (80/20 blend) in bulk. At the same time, a Romanian recycler succeeded in selling a bulk shipment of bonus to a large steelworks at $402/mt CFR Eregli towards the end of the week.
Freights have hardened in the Black Sea basin, with shipments to Aliaga costing around $24-25/mt for a small shipment from Romania; a sale was made at $394/mt CFR for a mixed HMS-bonus cargo to a medium-sized EAF mill.