Approaching May trading, most participants in the US scrap market expect prices to move sideways again during the month, except for prime grades, notes Kallanish.
The potential rise in prime grades, on the other hand, is expected to remain limited to $10-15/gross ton. Although there are a few suppliers that expect prices to increase by more, most market participants doubt this due to the weakness in fundamentals.
On the US West Coast, local Taiwanese producer Feng Hsin held offers stable for both scrap and rebar this week following the hike last week. US-origin containerised HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap prices are heard at $360/tonne cfr Taiwan this week, although some deals were concluded at around $2/t higher last week. Prices slid due to competition with lower-priced Japanese scrap.
On the East Coast, Turkish mills resisted US-origin offers at around $390/t cfr last week. Although Turkish mills’ demand has shown improvement since the end of last week, no deals from the US have been heard. Rumours about a deal at $386/t cfr for US-origin HMS 1&2 80:20 were denied by both sides.
Activity in the Turkish scrap market is expected to improve this week, with some sellers and suppliers continuing negotiations on Monday. However, no market participant expects prices to reach $390/t cfr, as targeted by suppliers, with the consensus remaining at $384-386/t cfr amid Turkey's weak steel sales and pressured steel prices.
On Monday, three deals were heard in the Turkish market, at $380/t cfr Turkey from the UK and $382/t cfr from Denmark for HMS 1&2 80:20, although confirmation was not provided at the time of publication. A southern Turkish mill is heard to have bought HMS 1&2 95:5 at $394/t and shredded at $404/t cfr last week, though this was also not confirmed
