Last week the scrap and billet market saw a revival in activity that led to a recovery in prices from the low points reached at the end of May.

Scrap, for example, returned to $355/tonne cfr Turkey for HMS 1/2 (80:20) after having touched $340/t cfr Turkey at the beginning of June. The recovery also coincided with the end of Ramadan and a boost in market sentiment following the decision by the US to apply the 25% tariff to imports from the EU, Canada and Mexico. This levelled the playing field for Turkish and CIS exporters.

Billet, like scrap, also saw some movement, despite the quiet market. CIS mills increased offers by $10-15/t on-week to $515-520/t fob Black Sea, with bookings reported to Egypt at $515/t fob. There were also reports of an Iranian billet deal to Egypt at similar levels, despite the looming re-imposition of economic sanctions on Iran.

Rather than being scrap price-driven, a European billet trader puts the hike down to supply and demand. “Billet prices fell, people booked and now prices have gone up again,” he observes. Nevertheless, a revival in billet demand from the Mediterranean countries as well as the end of Ramadan is understood to have had an impact on the price recovery.