Bangladeshi mills continued to book containers of HMS and shredded amid a tightening supply of scrap, both domestically and internationally. As demand improved, a few mills raised bids to book material and traders also took positions. Elevated container freight rates also pushed overall landed costing for ferrous scrap.
The daily Davis Index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America, Thursday, rose by $4/mt to $519/mt cfr Chattogram. Deals for HMS 1&2 (80:20) concluded at $520/mt cfr Chattogram. Offers for #1 HMS were at $530/mt cfr Chattogram on Thursday.
On Thursday, the index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) was at $530.36/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $6.61/mt. Over 4,000mt of #1 HMS from the UK/EU traded at $537/mt cfr Chattogram. Deals for HMS over 5,000mt from other origins were in the range of $530-535/mt cfr Chattogram. Improved demand kept sellers upbeat.
Traders increased negotiations before a seasonal slowdown affects sentiment. A gradual recovery in HMS trades pushed the indexes for HMS 1&2 (80:20) of UK-origin and Australia-origin to $523/mt and $530/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $5/mt and $7/mt, respectively.
Despite softening trend in the Turkish bulk prices, the daily Davis Index for containerized shredded jumped by $5.71/mt to settle at $553.21/mt cfr Chattogram on Thursday. Late Wednesday, a deal for 2,000mt shredded was confirmed at $555/mt cfr Chattogram for the US-origin material. Offers for UK-origin shredded were at $560-565/mt cfr Chattogram on Thursday against bids of $550/mt cfr Chattogram.
For P&S, Bangladeshi mills kept bids at around $560/mt cfr Chattogram. But most yards resisted these price levels on tight supply and elevated freight rates. Busheling scrap from the UK traded at $590/mt cfr Chattogram on Wednesday.
Following elevated imported scrap offers, offers for domestic ship scrap equivalent to P&S rose further by BDT500/mt to BDT48,500-49,000/mt ex-yards. Ship recyclers targeted prices of BDT50,000/mt ex-yards, with scrapped imported vessel offers for shipbreakers at $560-570/mt cfr Chattogram.
Shipbreaking plate offers rose to BDT54,000-54,500/mt ex- yards Chattogram. Several small-scale mills were busy closing their books ahead of the fiscal year-end. Steelmakers have decided to sell off inventories amid a bearish monsoon outlook.
For large-scale steelmakers, deals continued to be in the range of BDT71,000-72,000/mt ex-works. Monsoons kept steel sales lower than mills’ expectations and many rebar makers were unwilling to accept lowered bids due to expensive ferrous scrap and high input costs.
($1=BDT84.8)