Heavy rains and the re-imposition of national lockdown halted trades in Bangladesh. Most mills stayed away for imported ferrous scrap bookings. Although steelmakers are eyeing a price hike, they failed to achieve sales at higher prices.
Large-scale mills are not able to procure scrap at higher prices to produce steel within the budget defined by government projects. Also, the non-availability of labours and the diversion of oxygen for medical use has impacted daily production rates.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Friday, settled flat at $552/mt cfr Chattogram. But compared to the prior Friday, the index dipped $1.25/mt. Trades for shredded were halted amid high expectations and tight supply. Most mills, except large-scale mills, stayed away from purchases amid a lack of liquidity and halted sales during lockdown.
After Eid-al-Adha celebrations, Bangladesh has re-imposed stringent lockdown from Friday, July 23 which would continue till August 5. Demand recovery in Bangladesh is thus likely to be slow post-Eid holidays with the closures of all government, semi-government, and most private offices in addition to travel and transport restrictions.
The daily index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) was unchanged at $530/mt cfr Chattogram. From prior Friday, the index dropped $3/mt. While the indexes for UK-origin and Australia-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) dropped $3/mt to $517/mt and $526/mt cfr Chattogram, respectively. The daily Davis Index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America, Friday, was stable at $515/mt cfr Chattogram. The index however dropped by $3/mt from prior Friday.
Steel sales pause
In Bangladesh, domestic steel prices are unchanged amid a near halt in trading. Labours are away for Eid celebration and are unlikely to return until next week on the extension of the lockdown.
The weekly index for ship scrap equivalent to P&S settled at BDT49,000/mt ($578/mt) ex-yards, down BDT250/mt. The weekly index for domestic HMS 1&2 (80:20) was at BDT46,000/mt ex-yards Chattogram, unchanged on Friday.
The weekly index for billet was unchanged at BDT59,000/mt ex-works. For shipbreakers, offers of scrapped vessels stayed at $580-600/mt cnf depending on the type.
The weekly index for rebar from large-scale mills Friday rose BDT250/mt to BDT71,500/mt, ex-works. The weekly Davis Indexes for rebar by medium-scale and small-scale mills are unchanged at BDT66,250/mt and BDT61,000/mt ex-works, respectively.
($1=BDT84.79)