Steel and Scrap Metal News Summary

 Here is a summary of new articles on steel and scrap metal prices as sourced from YIEH

LME nickel price on August 11 hiked by over US$1,100/ton to above US$23,600/ton. The nickel price hit a record high in the past one and half months.

The average nickel price in August was US$22,403/ton, growing by 4.3% from the previous month. Besides, the total decrease of LME nickel inventory in August was 1,518 tons.

Market participants forecasted the US inflation decrease, the US dollar depreciation, and low LME nickel inventory made nickel prices hike. However, because China’s demand for stainless steel was still low, the nickel would fluctuate in the short term.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turkey’s ferrous scrap import prices might rise and remain high by September because of the logistic interruption in Europe.

Northwest Europe is the main ferrous scrap exporter to Turkey. In the first half of this year, Turkey imported scrap from the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium with a total of about 2.43 million tons. These three countries faced the disruption of the historical hottest weather, so the shipment couldn’t be guaranteed to deliver.

Apart from that, the European scrap supply is highly dependent on inland river transportation. However, the lack of rainfall in middle Europe made the river Rhine hit a low water level record. Suppliers were asked to reduce their scrap loading on barges.

In addition, the coal and wheat industry was highly competitive, and demand for barges increased. It will make scarp delivery more difficult.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Kyrgyzstan, located in central Asia, announced that it has decided to once again temporarily ban the export of ferrous scrap to countries outside the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

The country imposed a temporary ban on ferrous scrap exports to countries outside the EAEU as early as January this year, and now the ban was extended again.

The EAEU region includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. The ban will last for six months, and a ban was also implemented on the export of precious metals and their raw materials in quantities not exceeding 500 kilograms.