Mills in Bangladesh remained silent as they await a further drop in global ferrous scrap prices. Most large-scale mills stayed away from trades, thus offering other mills a chance to lower bids. Steel production is recovering gradually after the nation-wide lockdown as market participants anticipate a healthy demand post monsoon season.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Monday, dropped by $7.5/mt to $542.5/mt cfr Chattogram, following a drop in South Asian bids. Offers for containerized UK origin shredded and P&S were at $540-545/mt cfr and $550/mt cfr Chattogram on Monday.
Although containerized freight rates continued an upward trend above $90/mt on New York to Chattogram ports, mills lowered bids below $540/mt cfr Chattogram. A sharp rise in commodity prices and freight charges have affected import capabilities of many mills in Bangladesh.
The daily index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) dropped to $511.25/mt cfr Chattogram, down $3.75/mt from Friday. The increasing availability of HMS in most supplier countries has weighed down prices, widening the gap between HMS and prime grades. In bulk, offers for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the US West Coast were at $525/mt cfr Chattogram on limited interest from buyers.
The daily index for UK-origin containerised HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $505/mt, down $3/mt on Monday and the index for Australia-origin dropped to $513/mt cfr Chattogram, by $5/mt from Aug 20. Buyers sought HMS from Brazil and the UK amid high freight charges for bulk cargoes from Australia and the US west coast.
On Monday, Chinese steel prices recovered raising hopes for a revival in Asian prices and traders in Latin America and Europe held activities. The daily Davis Index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America dropped to $496/mt cfr Chattogram, down $4/mt from Friday.
Domestic rebar steady, shipbreaking sentiments soften
In the domestic market, rebar prices stabilised after rising last week. Demand was on a slow recovery. Large-scale mills offered rebar above BDT73,000/mt ex-works however, retail market sales were below BDT2000-3000/mt than listed asking rates. The supply of finished steel eased due to inventory pile-up during the lockdown.
For shipbreakers, scrapped vessels offer dropped below $600-610/ldt, losing $20-30/ldt from the peak in the earlier weeks. Offers for ship scrap equivalent to P&S, were at BDT51,500-52,000/mt ex-yards. For ship plates, asking rates dropped to BDT56,800-57,000/mt ex yards, losing BDT2,000/mt. For domestic HMS 1&2 (80:20) trades were reported at BDT48,000/mt ex-yards Chattogram.
($1=BDT85.1)