Turkey witnessed a continued uptrend in its domestic scrap market, supported by increasing import scrap prices. The latest HMS 1&2 (80:20) deal at $419/mt cfr Tukery is $126/mt higher than deals in late to early October which were trending around $293/mt cfr.
The weekly Turkish Davis Index for DKP scrap (equivalent to auto bundles) increased by TRY131/mt ($16.7/mt) to TRY2,985/mt ($381/mt) delivered on Monday. While an increase, less than half of last week’s TRY251/mt increase for the grade.
Colakoglu Metalurji and Diler Demir Celik continued raising their purchase prices for DKP grade by TRY150/mt to TRY3,065/mt delivered and TRY2,990/mt delivered, respectively. Notably, prices rose less steeply, compared with the TRY270/mt spike in these purchase prices last week.
Korman also increased prices by TRY130/mt to TRY2,900/mt delivered, also lower than the TRY220/mt increase last week. Erdemir prices were up by TRY280/mt this week with its new purchase price for DKP grade at TRY3,125/mt, compared with a rise of TRY150/mt last week. Isdemir carried over the same scrap buying price level of TRY2,555/mt from late November.
Shipbreaking prices increased to $400/mt, up $50/mt against last week’s $350/mt in tandem with sharp price increases in the global scrap market.
Market participants said that the increase in scrap market prices followed better steel end-product sales. Several participants believe that the sharp increases could lead to a volatile market that could fall unexpectedly. However, strong finished steel demand and high finished steel prices in the EU, Turkey, US, Japan, and Asia coupled with limited scrap flows and the winter season is expected to keep the scrap market robust.
A few buyers are still trying to cover their January scrap needs while most buyers are booking shipments for February. Some sellers foresee March cargoes of HMS 1&2(80:20) hitting $450/mt cfr Turkey. US exporters, a large source of scrap for Turkish mills, are providing limited offers to Turkey while they are heard to be actively negotiating bulk volumes to Asia, Mexico, and other destinations at more attractive prices against Turkish bid levels. The lack of US material has led to a shortage of shredded material in the Turkish scrap market this week.