Benelux scrap market revives as prices increase

Port prices were mostly delivered at €320-330/t ($344-355) on Monday, compared to €310-315/ton early last week.

However, Benelux exporters are sourcing limited volumes at €330/t as they want to see the level of Turkish demand first. Local suppliers, who were targeting higher prices last week and are now convinced that higher prices are unlikely to be achieved at least in the near future, are more willing to sell at €320-325/t today.

The latest sales were realised at $385-388/t cfr for EU HMS 1&2 80:20 last week.

Although Benelux exporters were aiming to sell above $390/t cfr to Turkey last week, they were unable to achieve these values from Turkish producers as offers in the Turkish market recorded a significant increase towards the end of the week. Turkish steelmakers withdrew from the market on Friday in the face of multiple offers from almost all regions and weakening steel sales. The weakness in demand continued on the first day of the current week.