Analysis
August 21, 2026
Export scrap market holds steady
Written by Stephen Miller
The export markets on both coasts have not changed very much over this last week.
This week we saw two more cargoes sold off the US East Coast at prices roughly the same as levels seen earlier this month. The prices for HMS 80/20 were $375-376 per metric ton (mt) CFR, both going to Turkey. On the West Coast, container prices remain depressed.
SMU spoke with a trader based in Italy who is active in the scrap trade involving Turkey and Italy.
He said the Italian market is inactive lately as August is basically a vacation month. He does expect some modest interest in scrap when the mills return, but nothing to get excited about. Regarding Turkey, he believes things will bounce along sideways and they will shy away from expensive offers.
Another transatlantic scrap trader told SMU he is unsure why scrap exporters in both Europe and the US aren’t trying to push up prices.
He said, “Turkey is buying but it seems suppliers are content (with current pricing).” The trader is anticipating deep-sea prices to eventually rise, depending on rebar and billet pricing.
On the US West Coast, not much has changed, either.
SMU spoke with an export trader supplying containerized material into Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
He told us the HMS container prices for shipment to Taiwan and Vietnam are at $325/mt and $330/mt, respectively. These are on a CFR CY price basis. These prices only attracted modest interest from US shippers as most of them are still working on higher priced contracts concluded previously.
The trader also mentioned that the strengthened Japanese yen has not changed prices of Japanese exports on a delivered basis into Taiwan or Vietnam.
He said, “It only stabilized them.”
Regarding bulk cargoes, the trader said Japan has been more interested in supplying Bangladesh whose price is the mid-$380s rather than the Southeast Asian market where prices are in the $350s.
