Davis Index’s northern Spain HMS 1&2 (80:20) and shredded small bulk ferrous scrap indices dropped by €11/mt ($13/mt) to €338/mt and €349/mt cfr, respectively, on Friday.
Offer prices to northern Spain dropped swiftly over the past 48 hours, as weakness crept into major seaborne trade routes and sellers readjusted their levels to reflect sentiment.
The anticipated flurry of Turkish purchasing activity has failed to materialize yet and, as such, the healthy quantity of offers available from key exporting nations has eventually depressed prices.
Northern Spain’s ferrous scrap import prices will dictate the direction and quantum of domestic prices, as they track developments in competing deepsea markets, particularly to Turkey.
Local ferrous scrap prices have become more exposed to seaborne pricing dynamics given that a group of bulk processors in northern Spain regularly build deepsea cargoes to Turkey.
Spain is still firmly a net importer of ferrous scrap but exports have surged to an average of 95,000mt per month since October 2020 from an average of 45,000mt per month over the preceding two years.
Davis Index’s UK small bulk ferrous scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20) and shredded indices decreased by €12/mt to €300/mt and €310/mt fob, respectively, during the week.
(€1 = $1.20)