As the nation recovers, it likely will gear up for a
steel- and scrap-intensive rebuilding process
Turkey has for much of this century been the largest single importer of
ferrous scrap globally. The company’s sizable steel industry is almost
completely powered by scrap-fed electric arc furnace (EAF) production.
On Monday, February 6, two powerful earthquakes rocked eastern Turkey,
causing tens of thousands of deaths and injuries and leveling thousands of
structures. As of mid-February, the toll of human suffering is still being
tallied.
The reaction of veteran ferrous scrap trader Nathan Fruchter of New York-based
Idoru Trading to the news in Turkey was, he says, the same as that for everyone
else: “What a horrible nightmare; the death, the destruction, the homeless
situation for thousands of people.”
Several hours later, in part because of his role as a global ferrous
scrap trader, Fruchter says he sent out more than two dozen e-mails to check on
people he knew in Turkey. “All but one replied within an hour or two, and the
common reply was an expression of sadness along with the message, “‘We’re
strong and we will overcome.’”
As the week of Feb. 6-10 continued, Fruchter, like so many people in the
sector, began following up on his own cargoes shipped to Turkey and tried to
gauge the lay of the land in the nation. “Speaking to others in the industry,
the words ‘force majeure’ came up very soon in conversation,” says Fruchter.
“Were buyers going to declare it, on the grounds it was an act of God, as
stated in certain contracts?”
As of mid-February, Fruchter says he and the wider market were
experiencing something else instead. “I’ve heard heartwarming stories about
mils not being able to take their scrap orders and asking friendly competitors
to take their orders instead, and divert their cargoes to other ports.”
At Idoru, says the veteran trader, “Between the different mills trying
to help one another, we were able to divert two small ships that came into
Turkey through the Mediterranean Sea, thankfully with ease, to another port and
another buyer. Cooperation between buyers has been fantastic.”