Ferrous scrap prices in Bangladesh reached a two-year’s high on strengthening global cues. Local ship scrap prices stayed strong as buyers rushed to secure inventories. A few importers booked scrap on Monday. The shortage of containers globally with the availability index in China dropping significantly has pushed shipping lines raising freight rates resulting in higher landed costs for importers.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Monday, settled at $370/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $5.36/mt from Friday and $11.25/mt from a week earlier. Offers from the UK and US-based suppliers rose to $370-375/mt cfr Bangladesh. Bids, however, continued to lag at $355-360/mt cfr Chattogram.
Short supply for shredded scrap prompted offers from South America and Australia to $350-355/mt cfr Chattogram. Buying interest in container deals at high prices is very limited. Traders, who had restocked materials at lower levels, are now attempting to push prices as high as possible. They offered P&S scrap at $380/mt cfr Chattogram on Monday with no buyers at those levels.
In the bulk markets, offers for the US West Coast-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) were above $370/mt cfr Chattogram during the weekend, but on Monday no firm offers were heard in the market. Many yards are running out of materials while Turkish demand is expected to be very strong.
With Turkish mills accepting $335-338/mt cfr Turkey level for HMS 1&2 (80:20), Bangladeshi mills might revise bids to materialize deals. Japanese #2 HMS was offered at $355/mt cfr Chattogram with no major trades.
The weekly Davis Index for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $352.36/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $3.86/mt from Friday. A few trades from Australia and the US were around $350-355/mt cfr Chattogram varying by quality.
The daily index for Latin America-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $344/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $3/mt from Friday. Brazilian traders sought higher prices of above $345/mt cfr Chattogram. Buyers opted out as offers for Latin American HMS #1 rose to $350-355/mt cfr Chattogram against bids of upto $345/mt cfr Chattogram.
Dhaka-based steelmakers offered domestic billet at BDT42,500-43,000/mt ex-Chattogram works to offset high input costs. Large steel producers like BSRM and AKS are offering rebar at BDT56,500-57,000/mt ex-works and are attempting another price hike by BDT2,000/mt to offset higher raw materials costs. End-user demand on the other hand remains weak. Small mills with cash crunch might announce production cuts again to manage the supply-demand gap.
Domestic shipbreaking scrap equivalent to P&S rose another BDT500-1,000/mt to BDT35,500-36,000/mt ex-yard Chattogram from the prior week. HMS 1&2 (80:20) offered at BDT33,000/mt ex-yard Chattogram for mills who prefer to mix it with premium melting grades like busheling. Offers for scrapped vessel imports were in the range at $370-380/ldt with indications of increased arrivals and prices reaching $400/ldt by year-end.
($1= BDT84.77)