Bangladeshi ferrous scrap trades remained slow due to the national lockdown to check the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some market participants expect domestic steel prices to come under pressure amid the impending arrival of monsoon and limited liquidity with small- and medium-scale steelmakers.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Friday fell marginally by $0.8 to settle at $533.25/mt cfr Chattogram, while for the weekly, the index was down by $9.25/mt. Offers for containerized shredded from UK/EU-yards firm at $495-505/mt cfr Chattogram with limited buying. Bids declined by around $10/mt on Friday compared to early this week.
Yards are interested in catering to bulk inquiries due to a shortage of empty containers. But mills avoided bulk bookings of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at offers of $510/mt cfr Chattogram amid sluggish domestic steel demand.
The Davis Indexes for P&S and #1 busheling, Friday, dropped to $543/mt and $568/mt cfr Chattogram, down by $12/mt and $8/mt, respectively, from the prior Friday. Scrap generation and collection rates at supplier yards have taken a hit. On Friday, offers for the UK-origin P&S in containers were above $540-550/mt cfr Chattogram.
The daily Davis Index for HMS 1 &2 (80:20) from Latin America, Friday, fell by $4 to $493/mt cfr Chattogram, while the index dipped by $12/mt from prior Friday. Trades for the grade reported at $490-493/mt cfr Chattogram while for #1 HMS offers remained firm from Latin American yards above $503/mt cfr Chattogram.
The indexes for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) fell by $2mt to $510/mt, UK-origin settled at $500/mt, down by $10/mt and Australia-origin declined by $8/mt to $507/mt cfr from May 21.
Many deals for HMS 1&2 (80:20) were heard this week in the range of $490-510/mt cfr Chattogram depending on the origin. The weekly index for ship scrap equivalent to P&S settled at BDT48500/mt ($572.44/mt) ex-yards, up by $6.44/mt on Friday. The index for domestic HMS 1&2 (80:20) was unchanged at BDT46,250/mt ex-yard Chattogram
Trades for heavy melt scrap bundles reported at BDT44,500-45,000/mt ex-yards. The weekly index for billet was at BDT61,500/mt ex-works, unchanged. Limited trades reported at BDT61,500-62,000/mt ex-works. Offers for 16mm ship plates at BDT55,000-55,500/mt ex-yards.
Rebar sales continued to disappoint large steelmakers who had to hike prices due to high input costs. After returning from Eid holidays, large-scale steelmakers have hiked rebar prices by BDT250-1,000/mt ($2.95-11.80/mt) to BDT63,000-73,500/mt ex-works.
The weekly index for rebar from large-scale mills settled at BDT73,500/mt, up BDT1,000/mt ex-works. The weekly indexes for rebar by medium and small-scale mills remained unchanged at BDT69,000/mt ex-works but buyers limited purchases.
End-users in Bangladesh are unsure of booking at present levels as the arrival of monsoon could pressure both steel demand and prices.
($1=BDT84.72)