The daily Davis Index for Turkish imports of US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) increased by $15.09/mt to $447.94/mt cfr on Thursday.
Spreads for shredded scrap widened to $10/mt and to $20/mt for busheling scrap as the availability of higher yield scrap grades remains extremely tight.
A bulk sale from Russia was confirmed at $444/mt for HMS 1&2 (80:20) and $454/mt for busheling. A few hours later, another cargo was booked at $6/mt above that price.
The second cargo sale was confirmed at $450/mt cfr for 13,500mt of HMS 1&2 (80:20), $460/mt for 14,000mt shredded, $460/mt for 3,000mt of bonus scrap and $470/mt for 2,000mt of busheling.
A third bulk sale was confirmed earlier in the day to Egypt, out of Europe, with 30,000mt trading at $436/mt for HMS 1&2 (75:25), $448/mt for shredded, $453/mt for bonus scrap, and $458/mt for bushelling.
With shredded scrap shooting past $450/mt cfr Turkey just a few days after the market participants began wondering about the potentially extremely bullish market sentiments, the new market target appears to be $500/mt cfr with mills still looking for cargoes.
Asian bulk markets are also on the precipice of another big hike as news is expected any day now of China clearing the way for bulk ferrous scrap imports effective January 1, 2021. Should China permit bulk imports, the country is expected to be in the market for at least eight cargoes in the first month itself.
This rapid pace of increase has made it extremely difficult for containerized scrap trade as sellers remain hesitant to supply material when prices are rising by $5-10/mt virtually every day.