Ferrous scrap prices in Bangladesh reached a two-year high on strengthening global cues. Local ship scrap prices stayed strong in Bangladesh as scrapped ship prices hit $400/ldt after the two-month cartel system ended last week. Also, a shortage of containers has led shipping lines to raise freight rates resulting in higher landed costs for scrap importers.
Mills resumed trades for HMS scrap paying $350-355/mt cfr Chattogram. The daily index for Latin America-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $349/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $5/mt from Monday. Brazilian traders sought above $350/mt cfr Chattogram. Buyers opted out as offers for Latin American HMS #1 rose to $360-365/mt cfr Chattogram against bids of up to $355/mt cfr Chattogram.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Tuesday, settled at $373.75/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $3.75/mt from Monday. There were hardly any deals for shredded while offers from the UK and US-based suppliers rose to $375-380/mt cfr Chattogram. Bids for shredded continued to lag $360-365/mt cfr Chattogram.
Short supply for shredded scrap prompted offers from South America and Australia supplier to quote $360-365/mt cfr Chattogram. Buying interest in containers 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 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 no firm offers were heard in the market so far this week. Many yards are running out of materials while Turkish demand is expected to be very strong.
With Turkish mills accepting $338-340/mt cfr Turkey offers for HMS 1&2 (80:20), Bangladeshi mills might revise bids to materialize deals. An uptrend in the domestic scrap prices in Japan prompted suppliers to focus on the domestic markets.
The weekly Davis Index for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $355.71/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $3.35/mt from Monday. A few trades from Australia and the US were around $355/mt cfr Chattogram varying by quality.
Dhaka-based steelmakers offered domestic billet at BDT42,500-43,000/mt ex-works Chattogram to offset high input costs. Prominent steel producers like BSRM and AKS are offering rebar at BDT56,500-57,000/mt ex-works and are attempting another price hike of BDT2,000/mt to offset higher raw materials costs. End-user demand on the other hand remains weak. Small mills facing 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= BDT84.74)