Strengthening of the ferrous scrap market in Turkey and China forced Bangladeshi mills to increase inquiries on Thursday. Despite slow steel demand in the domestic market, buyers are keen to secure material before prices move up further. Steel prices are surging in tandem with rising imported scrap offers encouraging mills to book more tonnages.
Early this week, mills refused to bid, however, a sharp rise in Turkish bulk import prices bought them back to the market. The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded on Thursday settled at $478.13/mt cfr Chattogram, up $0.63/mt from Wednesday on firm offers. A few trades in containers heard at $475-480/mt cfr Chattogram pushing offers for the UK and Europe up to $485-490/mt cfr Chattogram.
Few yards in the US and South America offered shredded at $5-10/mt lower than the UK-based suppliers. Meanwhile, COVID-related restrictions have pushed many sellers to focus on domestic sales.
Some buyers limited purchases to meet immediate requirements amid uncertainty around sustained steel demand in the long run. Also, mills focused on clearing their utility bill dues before the month-end resulting in low demand.
Offers in the bulk market are high and unviable, said Bangladeshi mill owners. Japanese suppliers offered #2 HMS at $465-470/mt cfr Chattogram on Thursday, up from the prior small bulk deal at $432/mt cfr Chattogram.
On Thursday, Chinese domestic billet prices rose by CNY40/mt to CNY4,270/mt ($662/mt) ex-Tangshan including VAT supported by an uptick in steel futures and sustained demand. Chinese mills resumed billet imports at $585-590/mt cfr Southeast Asia. On the other hand, rebar from India traded at $620-625/mt cfr Hong Kong and Singapore.
Trades for HMS scrap from Latin America continued with price moving up by $5/mt per day this week. The index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America on Thursday settled at $442/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $4/mt. Traders bought HMS 1&2 (90:10) in containers at $445-450/mt cfr Chattogram, with mills booking small tonnages in the range. The daily Davis Index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $446.93/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $1.93/mt. Offers were high amid a strong outlook for the March domestic market.
Domestic steel prices rise
Offers of ship scrap equivalent to P&S at BDT42,500-43,000/mt ($502-508/mt) ex-yards. Buyers opted ship scrap for faster delivery time. Domestic billet traded at BDT54,000-54,500/mt ex-works Chattogram, up BDT1,000/mt.
To maintain the spread between scrap-billet and scrap-rebar, mills need to target BDT57,000/mt and BDT68,000/mt for billet and rebar respectively, said a large steelmaker. On Thursday, asking prices for rebar from large producers rose to BDT67,000-67,500/mt ex-works.
Rebar traded, albeit, in small volumes in Dhaka at BDT63,000-64,000/mt ex-works medium-scale mills.
($1=BDT84.72)