Page 44 from: December 2007

posite price for HMS I also fell in
mid-November by US$ 15.66 per
long ton to US$ 245.17, but climbed
again to US$ 260 early December.

Some cargoes of West Coast HMS
I and 80/20 scrap were sold to South
Korea but the price of US$ 375 per
tonne translated to US$ 285 fob giv-
en the explosion in freight rates. In
early November, Taiwan paid
US$ 400 per tonne for two cargoes of
top-quality plate and structural
scrap from Japan. In the UK, mean-
while, domestic ferrous scrap prices
fell £10 per tonne (US$ 21) for No-
vember deliveries.

Russia and further east

In Russia, domestic scrap prices
have fallen between US$ 2 and US$ 5
per tonne owing to weaker fob export
demand, a sufficiency of supply, and
new collection campaigns orchestrat-
ed by Russian mills. Prices of East
Siberian scrap destined mainly for
South Korea fell some US$ 5-10 per
tonne to a c&f level of US$ 365, which
boils down to US$ 340 fob Vladivos-
tok and other Siberian ports. The de-
cline is due to slack demand and low-
er Japanese offers.

Further east, scrap prices have

M A R K E T A N A L Y S I S

Ferrous

Closed: December 4 2007

By Alfred Nijkerk

This year, the market witnessed
some wild fluctuations before enter-
ing calmer waters in the fourth
quarter. Nevertheless, Turkish mills
have been forced to add US$ 5-15
per tonne to their cif/cfr prices ow-
ing to fears that leading scrap ex-
porters would abstain from selling
material for either fiscal reasons or
in anticipation of scrap prices follow-
ing the recent pig iron increase and
an expected hike in iron ore.

Turkish cif prices for the 80/20
quality jumped from below US$ 340
per tonne in October to over US$ 360
last month. But even these increases
failed to compensate exporters in full
for higher freight rates. Exporters in
Europe and Japan have also suffered
greatly as a result of the seemingly
relentless drop in the value of the US
dollar; indeed, we appear to be ap-
proaching a situation where one
Euro will be worth US$ 1.50.

Domestic prices in the USA were
lower at the start of last month but
did not fall to the same extent as au-
tomobile factory bundles which,
rather unexpectedly, dropped
US$ 25 per long ton for November
sales, but recovered by US$ 15 on
November 30. The US weekly com-

Recycling International • December 2007 44

Scrap market lifted by rising
shipping rates

Unlike domestic and fob export prices, delivered scrap

export prices are showing signs of improvement as rapidly-

rising shipping freight rates have eaten up all the recent

gains in cfr/cif prices. Turkey has raised its cif prices for

fear of being deprived of scrap towards year-end and to

compensate exporters for the continuing decline of the US

dollar in relation to the Euro, the Yen and China’s renminbi

Yuan. In the USA, automobile factory bundle auction prices

dropped by US$ 25 per long ton in November, but recovered

by US$ 15 on November 30. Latest fob Rotterdam prices

include: US$ 305 per tonne for 80/20 HMS I/I I scrap;

US$ 310 for shredded; and US$ 295 for the 60/40 I/II mix.

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