Ferrous scrap awaiting Turkish run on US market

Dec 04, 2009 | 12:03 PM | Michael Marley

U.S. ferrous scrap exporters are poised for another flurry of scrap buying by Turkish steelmakers, one U.S. scrap trader said.

The biggest problem they are having now is getting over the "sticker shock" of the higher prices being paid in the U.S. market by domestic steelmakers, he added. Prices for No. 1 heavy melting steel scrap have soared to as much as $260 per long ton on a delivered-to-mill basis in some cities, while shredded scrap is being quoted at $300 per ton delivered in the Midwest and in the South. The two grades are the preferred melt material that Turkish mills use to make rebar and other finished steel long products.

"They have little or no choice because they need scrap and the Dubai financial crisis is having no effect on them (Turkish steelmakers)," the trader said. "They just shrug it off."

Prices in the U.S. market have soared as much as $60 per ton in some regions, although export yards on the U.S. East Coast have been slow to raise their prices in recent weeks. Some are quoting about $225 per ton to local suppliers for No. 1 heavy melt and have begun to reach deeper inland with offers of $240 per ton, but that won't do much if they hope to amass enough scrap to ship overseas in January.....