Bangladeshi mills booked imported ferrous scrap in containers amid limited inventories at hand, giving prices a lift on Thursday. Offers, however, were still scarce. A few medium-scale mills in Dhaka could lower steel prices to generate cash to sustain their operations, impacting domestic market sentiment in the coming days.
Also, major shipping lines have decided to lower the number of free days at some destinations, particularly in Asia, effective Jan 1, 2021, to deal with the shortage of containers. Mediterranean Shipping Company and Maersk have lowered free days to 12 days in India and Pakistan; and 10 days in Bangladesh from the earlier 14 days.
In the bulk market, Bangladeshi mills were keen on Japanese small bulk offers until Wednesday. But with the average bids at Kanto tender setting a new record after 2008, most buyers backed out. Average bids at the tender increased by $77/mt from the prior month, and bulk offers for #2 HMS rose above $400/mt cfr Chattogram. Offers HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the US West Coast were above $415-420/mt cfr Chattogram.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Thursday, settled at $418.46/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $3.46/mt cfr. Offers for the UK and EU-origin containerized shredded were at $420-425/mt cfr Chattogram. Around 2,000mt of containerized shredded of the UK-origin was heard to be sold at $420/mt cfr Chattogram. Offers for the grade from the US, New Zealand, and Australia were mostly above $415/mt cfr Chattogram.
The weekly Davis Index for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $399.66/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $7.12/mt. Prior trades for UK-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) were reported at $400-405/mt cfr Chattogra. Fresh offers are above $405/mt cfr Chattogram. Market participants believe trades for UK-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) and P&S seem unlikely at prices below $405/mt cfr and $415/mt cfr Chattogram, respectively, in the coming days. Some offers for P&S were also at $425/mt cfr Chattogram, with no takers at those prices.
A few offers for #1 HMS were at $405/mt cfr Chattogram from Australia and the US, depending on the quality. Offers for sheared #1 HMS from the UK were at prices above $405-410/mt cfr Chattogram.
The daily index for Latin America-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) was at $394/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $9/mt with trades reported at those levels. Offers for Latin American mix HMS #1 and P&S were at $400/mt cfr Chattogram on Thursday. A few containers were booked for the grade from New Zealand and Chile at $395/mt cfr Chattogram.
On Thursday, large scale rebar makers like AKS and BSRM kept their asking prices flat at BDT61,000-62,000/mt ex-works. But a few medium-scale rebar makers offered discounts to encourage trades. Winter issues like heavy fog are likely to impact transportation. Ferry transportation too has stopped in some regions of Chattogram.
Steel mills in Chattogram offered domestic billets at BDT49,500-50,000/mt ($585-591/mt) ex-works Chattogram, at prices unchanged from Wednesday.
Shipbreaking scrap equivalent to P&S rose driven by a rise in imported scrap prices. Trades were heard at BDT39,500-40,000/mt ex-yards. With rising supply from shipbreaking, some yards offered domestic scrap at BDT38,500/mt ex-yards on Thursday.
($1= BDT84.80)