Miller on scrap: US East Coast boosted by Turkey

The scrap export market has demonstrated resiliency so far this year from the US East Coast. This strength has mainly come from the Turkish market. Despite weakening orders for rebar in their domestic market, imported scrap prices have held up until the last several days. The US West Coast is not as active, but there are orders in South Asia and in South America that are keeping things afloat.

Let’s start with Turkey. This market peaked out in early February at about $422 per metric ton (mt) CFR, and stubbornly came down to $419/mt for several cargoes of US origin. The cheapest deal in the week ended on Friday, Feb. 16, was from Europe at $412/mt for HMS 80/20, and followed by another at $411/mt. It’s widely reported the Turkish steelmakers need to buy at least 30 cargoes for March shipment. If this happens, they will have to return to the US for a significant number of vessel-loads since there seems to be a seasonal scrap deficit in Europe. With the relative strength in the US market, it may be difficult to bring the delivered price much below $415-420/mt.