Bangladeshi mills remained silent on Wednesday as well, since ferrous scrap continued its downtrend. US West Coast-based dockyards and Japanese suppliers’ sentiments are bearish. Mills are waiting for the market to achieve some stability before purchasing.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Wednesday, settled at $461.25/mt cfr Chattogram, down by $15/mt. No major containerized deals were reported. On Wednesday, there were no firm bids from the mills against asking prices of $465-470/mt cfr Chattogram.
The daily Davis Index for containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) of US-origin settled at $440/mt cfr Chattogram, down by $15/mt. On Wednesday, buyers were not interested in price levels above $440-445/mt cfr Chattogram for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Australia or Latin America-origin amid falling domestic scrap prices.
The daily index for containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) of Latin-origin settled at $443/mt cfr Chattogram, down by $13/mt as buyers lowered bids. A few offers for HMS #1 from Chile were at around $445-455/mt cfr Chattogram but buyers resisted those levels.
Indian suppliers offered Sponge iron at $360-365/mt CPT Benapole ($370-375/mt cfr Chattogram) down by $5/mt from Tuesday. Mills buying Sponge iron from India are also waiting for stability in domestic prices.
Domestic steel drops
Prices for shipbreaking scrap equivalent to P&S dropped with trades at BDT40,000-40,500/mt ex-works, narrowing the margins further. Offers for domestic HMS 1&2 (80:20) were at BDT39,000-39,500/mt ex-yards Chattogram. Trades for domestic billets were at BDT50,000/mt ex-works Chattogram.
On Wednesday, medium-scale mills in Dhaka sold rebar at BDT60,000/mt ex-works. Large steelmakers made every attempt to keep finished steel, especially rebar, prices firm but had to offer discounts of BDT1,000-1,500/mt to encourage sales.
In January, domestic billet and scrap prices have dropped by at least BDT3,000-3,500/mt ($35-41/mt). Buyers are waiting for a further drop of $10-15/mt to resume trades in containers which would bring the spread between scrap and rebar in the workable range again.
($1=BDT84.92)