The Turkish scrap market has fallen into a state of confusion following the latest deals heard towards the end of last week.

A US-origin deal was heard concluded late on Thursday at $381/tonne cfr Turkey for HMS 1&2 80:20, which points to an increase in scrap prices as the previous deal from the same origin was concluded at $376/t cfr a day earlier.

However, some mills, providing the actual details of the cargo, say this does not point to a price increase, as the quantity of HMS 1&2 80:20 was only 6,000 tonnes, whereas the 26,000t of shredded was priced at $396/t cfr.

The second sale from Denmark was circulated at $380/t cfr for HMS 1&2 80:20, although the actual price is heard to be around $375/t cfr.

Two more HMS 1&2 80:20 deals at $368/t and $372/t cfr from the UK and EU respectively were also heard on Thursday night.

A Turkish mill bemoans: “There is no such market where a mill is forced to pay $5/t higher that soon. Supply is still sufficient to meet Turkey’s demand. However, these [US and Denmark] deals are circulated at higher levels on purpose to manipulate the market. Misinformation in this way causes great damage to the industry.”

“Saying price stabilisation would be more correct than scrap recovery,” says another Turkish mill.

On the other hand, some suppliers are seen to have increased their offers to $385/t cfr Turkey following these bookings, while some backed off from the market. However, most market participants do not find the indicative value of HMS 1&2 80:20 to be above $380/t cfr, at least on Friday.

A supplier tells Kallanish: “Turkey needed something to justify its need to trigger steel sales. If this does not help for a sales recovery, prices will continue where they left off.”

A trader, who thinks the actual market level is at $375-378/t cfr for US-origin HMS 1&2 80:20, says: “If Turkey fails to improve steel sales, no mill would buy scrap at above $380/t cfr. Considering there is no issue on the scrap supply side, prices are unlikely to improve. On the other hand, I am not expecting a huge improvement in steel sales, given the market fundamentals in Turkey and abroad. Delayed demand might return, but this is not expected to last long.”

Although debate continues about whether scrap prices have recovered or not, almost all market participants agree that this news – even if debatable – has halted price declines for now. The actual trend is seen being determined in the coming week, based on steel sales.

Although some mills were inquiring about scrap on Friday, no bookings were heard.

Although there were lower rebar prices available at $580-585/t fob Turkey actual weight earlier last week, on Friday, mills resisted prices below $590/t fob. On the other hand, although they kept official rebar offer levels unchanged at $595-615/t ex-works on Friday, some increased premiums for thin material. Rebar demand registered a slight improvement on Friday.