Turkish demand keeps ferrous scrap exports healthy

Apr 30, 2012 | 07:00 PM | AMM staff

Tags  ferrous scrap shipments, ferrous scrap exports, Turkey, Korea, China, AMM Staff

After record shipments last year, the U.S. ferrous scrap export market looks strong again so far in 2012, driven especially by demand from Turkey.

Turkish mills kept U.S. ferrous scrap exports chugging along into the beginning of the second quarter, ordering a number of bulk cargoes when other buyers were either scaling back, making their own normally smaller purchases or were out of the market altogether. In addition to tonnages, prices remained strong and steady.

Prices for the 80/20 mix of No. 1 and No. 2 heavy melting steel scrap remained at around $440 per tonne c.f.r. as of the end of March, two large exporters said, a level relatively unchanged from the beginning of the year. One exporter said that four of the five deep-sea vessels heading to Turkey at that time left from the East Coast, while one shipment came from the Gulf Coast.

Through March and heading into April, available government figures and AMM estimates indicated exports were higher than at the start of 2011. In addition to Turkey, South Korea, Malaysia and India helped lift volumes. The surge in demand from those four countries more than offset lower Chinese demand.....