Rangebound trading persisted in the Turkish import ferrous scrap market on Thursday as a purchasing glut continued. US cargoes proved that higher pricing remained possible, but a lower number on a Baltic cargo showed other sellers willing to drop.
Four cargoes were heard on Thursday, closely following eight cargoes that were heard the day before. A premium seller booked three of the cargoes Wednesday. Two were of US origin, firmly at $227/mt for 80:20, while the third was ex-UK at $223/mt.
Standard differentials on this material from the UK would normalize to $228/mt for a premium cargo.
The final cargo came ex-Baltic, $228/mt average for a shred-heavy load. The heavy melting scrap I/II 80:20 portion of the booking was valued at $224.90/mt.
An agent in Turkey believed that the lower Baltic prices came from sellers waiting too long before making bookings at levels desired by Turkish producers.
"Finally Turkish buyers bought cargoes, but from now on the activity will not be as much as yesterday," he said. "On the other hand, there are still sellers around. Especially Baltic sellers have not sold much; they need to sell."
Talk was plentiful last week of a mountain of material available from Baltic sources, but little materialized. A Baltic seller said that the market felt more stable and demand was better.
A seller in Europe, who saw current pricing functions as a rollover, agreed.
S&P Global Platts assessed HMS I/II 80:20 CFR Turkey at $226.50/mt on Thursday, up $1/mt from Wednesday.
