Drought-Impacted Germany Eases Trucking Restrictions, Tata Avoids Danube

[Malaysia] Malaysia’s domestic HRC transaction price was heard at around USD 519/tonne EXW, up by about USD 5/tonne from roughly USD 514/tonne last week. Despite the modest increase, market participants reported continued weak downstream demand for both HRC and CRC, with transaction volumes remaining low. Buyers are still purchasing mainly on a need-to-use basis, keeping overall market activity subdued.

[India] As market sentiment strengthened, indicative export prices for Indian steel billet rose to $460/mt FOB India. Indicative prices for US/EU-origin shredded scrap were $420–422/mt CFR Qasim, UAE-origin HMS was $413–415/mt CFR Qasim, and Indian HMS was around $360/mt CFR India. However, scrap prices in the Indian market remain at indicative levels only, with no confirmed deals yet. The strengthening trend also extended to India’s domestic billet market, with prices rising in 16 of the 19 assessed regions, and the overall price range was $406–458/mt (INR 38,800–43,800/mt). Mumbai saw the largest increase, up $12/mt (INR 1,100/mt) to $448/mt (INR 42,800/mt); billet prices in Mandi Gobindgarh, Raipur, Chennai, and Durgapur were $444/mt (INR 42,400/mt), $414/mt (INR 39,600/mt), $458/mt (INR 43,800/mt), and $422/mt (INR 40,300/mt), respectively. India’s domestic HRC prices remained unchanged.

[Turkey] Over the past week, with Black Sea shipping nearly at a standstill and a Ukrainian steel mill suffering attack damage, several Turkish steelmakers have pivoted back to the Asian market for billet procurement. Turkey's billet import assessment has stabilized at 495–500 USD/tonne CFR. In terms of specific transactions, a mill in Izmir purchased 50,000 tonnes of imported billet from a trader at 495–500 USD/tonne CFR; prior to this, a section steel producer in the same region had already booked approximately 50,000 tonnes of Chinese billet. Notably, frequent attacks on Black Sea shipping routes have effectively paralyzed the dispatch of regional materials to Turkey. This disruption, compounded by the damage to a Ukrainian steel plant and elevated freight rates of around 45 USD/tonne from Russia to Turkey, has driven Turkish buyers' overall restocking demand firmly toward Asia.