Turkish HMS 1/2 80:20 scrap import prices advance to $397.30 a ton in December

ANKARA (Scrap Register): Turkish HMS 1/2 80:20 scrap import prices (CFR Iskenderun Port, Turkey) advanced by 1.5% month-on-month to $397.30 a ton in December last year, as per the latest figures released by the The Steel Index.

 

According to TSI, the last few months in Turkey have found steel mill purchasing managers quietly looking on in disbelief at the rise of the imported price of scrap. 

 

“But the price of rebar hasn’t moved!” they claim, and quite rightly so. Rebar export prices (FOB port) have stagnated for the last two months, according to Platts, and in some cases have even fallen slightly.

 

The spread between the FOB Rebar and CFR Turkey HMS #1&2 80:20 scrap price, which reached a high of US$222/tonne in June, fell to US$183/t in December, below the US$200/t margin which many consider to be a profitable level for Turkish steel mills. Nevertheless, the margin for the year averaged US$205/t, so most long products steel mills should be in the black for 2013, though US$180/t levels will continue to erode profitability.

 

US scrap producers, facing wintery weather in the US Midwest and a very strong domestic market, continued to offer HMS #1&2 80:20 exports at US$405/t CFR Turkey and above through most of December. 

 

This led to Turkish mills sourcing a considerable amount of material from the Baltic regions and Europe, in an effort to lower the average price of their purchased material. Nonetheless, TSI’s daily index for Turkish scrap imports of HMS #1&2 80:20, CFR Iskenderun port, rose throughout December to finish on $402/tonne, $40/t above the recent low-point of $362/t in September 2013.