Scrap trading in the US domestic market kicked off on 6 July, with a Detroit mill’s bids for busheling and shredded down $30/gross ton and $20/gt respectively from June prices. However, domestic suppliers are resisting these drops in prices and have thus backed off from the market.

In the South, mills and suppliers have agreed to keep prices unchanged from June values.

While negotiations continue on Monday, the market expects prices to fully settle within the current week, notes Kallanish.

On the US West Coast, Taiwanese scrap prices have had a downward start to the week, with US offers falling below $370/tonne, to around $365-368/t cfr Taiwan. Local electric arc furnace mill Feng Hsin maintained prices unchanged this week due to the depreciating currency.

On the East Coast, Turkey’s demand remained weak throughout last week following a Marmara mill’s purchases at the beginning of the week. The latest US-origin booking for HMS 1&2 85:15 was concluded at $381/t cfr Turkey. Although US mills sought prices above $380/t cfr for HMS 1&2 80:20, they failed to see buyer interest. On Monday, there is a rumour of a US-origin sale at $395/t cfr for shredded and bonus, although this remained unconfirmed at press time.

Sentiment in the Turkish market worsened at the end of last week with an unexpected increase in VAT from 18% to 20%. The market has had a quiet start to the week in terms of both scrap demand and steel sales.