After a brief hiatus amid a national lockdown, Bangladeshi steel mills showed a willingness to book imported ferrous. Sellers also raised asking prices amid scarce supply in seller countries and improved demand. A shortage of domestic scrap due to a decline in demolition work could also boost imports ahead of the Eid holidays.
The extended lockdown and strict restrictions to contain COVID-19 could be eased after July 14 with a decline in new infections cases.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Monday, settled at $555/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $3/mt from Friday, following elevated offers. Deals were scarce amid a wide disparity between offers and bids. A couple of bulk trades at prices lower by $3-4/mt than previous deals were heard in Turkey. Still, containerized scrap offers are unlikely to decline amid Eid restocking and elevated freight rates.
Steelmakers are also eyeing price hikes for finished steel products to pass on the increase in input costs due to firm imported scrap prices. Amid sluggish steel sales, small mills are facing a margin squeeze.
The daily Davis Index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America, Monday, rose to $517/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $3/mt. Deals for HMS 1&2 (80:20) were reported at $515-518/mt cfr Chattogram. Traders then pushed up asking prices by $5/mt than these levels on Monday.
Deals for UAE-origin HMS have increased in Bangladesh for the past couple of months. Mills booked material from UAE due to its quick delivery period compared to that from the UK or Europe.
Sales of UAE-origin #1 HMS and P&S mix material were reported at $537-538/mt cfr Chattogram, while UK-origin P&S reportedly traded at $548/mt cfr Chattogram late last week.
Following elevated offers, the daily indexes for US-origin and Australia-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) on Monday settled at $532.5/mt and $528/mt cfr Chattogram, respectively, up by $4/mt from Friday. The daily index for UK-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $520/mt cfr Chattogram on Monday.
Following a drop in average bids at Japan’s Kanto tender for July, offers for #2 HMS in small bulk softened. But on a cfr basis, asking prices were unchanged due to firm freights rates.
For shipbreakers, offers of scrapped vessels rose by $10-20/ldt to $580-600/ldt levels. Thus shipbreaking scrap prices also gained. Ship plate offers were at BDT55,000/mt ex-yards. Offers for ship scrap equivalent to P&S settled at BDT49,500-50,000/mt ex-yards. Rebar trades, however, yet to recover as expected.
($1=BDT84.83)