Turkish scrap prices continued their fall on Friday and approached the $400/tonne cfr Turkey threshold.

A Marmara mill is heard to have bought Baltic-origin HMS 1&2 80:20 at $403/t cfr. Although another Marmara mill is also heard to have bought from the same supplier at the same level, this is yet to be confirmed.

There were rumours on Friday afternoon of a US-origin deal at $399/t cfr. Although the supplier denies the sale, the market believes the cargo was in fact bought at this price by a western Turkish mill.

Sentiment is seen worsening each day as Turkish producers are struggling to sell steel products. Consequently, utilisation rates are continuously decreasing, which reduces mills’ requirement for scrap.

A scrap supplier tells Kallanish: “The next deal will definitely appear at below $400/t cfr. There are some continuing negotiations and mills are pushing for lower prices as steel prices are falling.”

A Marmara mill is meanwhile heard to have bought Romania-origin HMS 1&2 80:20 at $365/t cfr Turkey.

“Soon, we will hear $360/t cfr levels as the pressure on prices is strong,” says a Romanian supplier. However, another Romanian supplier says he is refusing to sell at below $370/t cfr.

Dock prices in the Benelux are seen to have further decreased throughout last week due to the negative sentiment in both Turkey and the EU. A few exporters are heard to have decreased their dock prices even to below €305/t ($336) delivered.

Turkish mills, which are struggling with currency issues and the resulting additional costs, are going through tough days with their steel sales. Turkish rebar exports in March fell to a historical low of 202,399 tonnes and April figures are not expected to get any better.

While export sales remained almost non-existent throughout the week, domestic sales were also far from providing respite. On Friday, stockists, who need to generate cash, decreased their prices to $653-658/t ex-works and attracted some buyers. However, mills offered rebar at above $665/t ex-works and failed to find buyers.