The Turkish imported scrap market, which faced a sharp price increase on the latest bookings, continues to strengthen as suppliers are now seeking even higher prices.

The latest bookings are confirmed by a western mill at $367/t cfr for HMS 1&2 80:20 and $387/t cfr for shredded and bonus and by a Marmara mill at $372/t cfr for HMS 1&2 90:10 from the US this week.

Following these deal, more market participants are questioning if the fundamentals behind this sharp price are solid enough. Turkish mills that have increased their steel offer prices in line with the rises seen in scrap prices are struggling to sell steel at higher levels.

A Turkish mill tells Kallanish: "There is no steel market that supports scrap prices. Stockist activity that [had] revived last week slowed again. On the other hand, premium HMS suppliers started pronouncing $375-380/t cfr levels. I don’t know who can pay these levels under current conditions.”

“Steel demand is the key to the market. Without demand for finished steel, this increase cannot be expected to be permanent,” says another mill.

A supplier says: “Turkey delayed purchases for a long time. Mills that need to buy are in the market and I am afraid they will have to pay higher prices.”

“Turkish mills’ timing of returning to the scrap market has been their bad luck amid supply shortages and strong scrap demand in other regions. Further uptick is inevitable,” says another supplier.  

A Baltic-origin supplier is heard offering HMS 1&2 80:20 at around $375/t cfr. A European supplier, however, is heard seeking $377/t cfr for the same grade while others are targeting $370/t cfr.

In the short-sea market, prices have also increased sharply this week. An Italian cargo is booked at $358/t cfr while Romanian suppliers sold at $353/t cfr, up from $325/t cfr a week earlier.

While export demand for rebar remains lacking, domestic demand has also slowed this week compared with last week. However, amid higher scrap prices, all mills have increased their prices to $575-590/t ex-works levels. Buyers, mostly stockists, are seen to have resisted prices above $580/t.