Prices of heavy melting scrap (HMS) 1&2 (80:20) to Turkey, the world’s largest importer of steel scrap, continued to decrease over the period of January 24-February 7, slipping by $29/tonne to $252/t CFR as of February 7, according to Mysteel’s latest survey.

The softening of Turkey’s domestic market for finished steel is the main reason given for the weakening of Turkish scrap prices, according to a Shanghai-based market watcher familiar with that market.

Recently, Turkey’s domestic rebar price has declined to $414/t, leading to the price spread between rebar and steel scrap.