Bangladeshi mills became active in the ferrous scrap market amid expectations of healthy finished steel demand and prices with the Chinese market reopening after the lunar new year holidays. Most buyers are hoping to secure raw material before prices rise further. Steel futures in China rose by 4-6pc while spot iron ore prices showed an upward trend boosting global sentiment.
Domestic finished steel demand is also predicted to stay strong due for the next two months.
Japanese sellers were bullish with Tokyo Steel announcing successive price hikes. For buyers in Bangladesh and Vietnam, offers for Japanese scrap rose by $10-15/mt on Thursday from a day ago.
The Davis Index for containerized shredded, Thursday, settled at $465/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $11.87/mt from Wednesday. Offers for containerized shredded on Thursday were at $465-475/mt cfr Chattogram. Mills could opt for bulk purchases amid elevated container freight charges and limited availability of containers delaying shipments.
There were only a few offers for HMS #1 from Chile at $435-440/mt cfr Chattogram. Offers for containerized UK-origin sheared scrap were at $425-430/mt cfr Chattogram.
Brazilian sellers have resumed exports to Bangladesh amid the closing gap between bids and offers. The daily Davis Index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $434.06/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $9.06/mt; while the index for the grade from Latin America was at $428/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $8/mt. A trader bought 500mt of Brazil-origin HMS 1&2 (90:10) at $430-435/mt cfr Chattogram.
A large steelmaker bought the grade from Australia and Singapore at $440-445/mt cfr Chattogram. South America-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) traded at $420/mt cfr Chattogram on Wednesday with offers reaching $430-435/mt cfr Chattogram on Thursday.
Domestic steel prices rise on demand
Ship scrap equivalent to P&S traded at BDT41,500-42,000/mt ex-works. The landed cost for imported P&S at current offer levels of $475-480/mt with the addition of import taxes, port clearances, and other charges comes to BDT44,000-45,500/mt. These prices are BDT2,000/mt higher compared to the domestic equivalent. Sellers could thus raise domestic scrap offers by around BDT1,000/mt. For shipbreakers, offers for vessels were in the range of $430-440/ldt, up by $20/ldt from a week earlier.
On Thursday, domestic billet traded at BDT51,000-52,000/mt ex-works Chattogram, up BDT1,000/mt from a day ago.
Large-scale steelmakers offered rebar at BDT65,000-66,000/mt ex-works, up BDT500-1,000/mt. Rebar offers by medium-scale mills in Dhaka were at BDT61,500-63,000/mt ex-works depending on quality, while small-scale mills offered rebar at BDT57,500-58,000/mt ex-works.
($1=BDT84.74)