Bangladeshi mills stayed away from bookings scrap in containers in a falling market. Easing supplies, weak domestic steel demand along with a sharp increase in freight charges kept buyers at bay this week. Leading mills have ample inventory as they have booked large tonnages in bulk for February deliveries.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Friday, settled at $452.5/mt cfr Chattogram, down by $47.5/mt from Jan 15. Buyers were silent for containerised trades this week in anticipation of another $15-20/mt drop next week. Prices are less likely to rebound before the Chinese New Year holidays, said steelmakers.
Trading in containerized P&S and #1 busheling stayed paused amid a lack of buyers for these grades. Indexes for the grades settled at $461/mt and $481/mt cfr Chattogram, down $33/mt and $28/mt, respectively.
The Davis Index for containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) of the US-origin and Latin America-origin settled at $437.5/mt and $435/mt cfr Chattogram, respectively, down by $40/mt each, from Jan 15. Offers for HMS #1 from Chile heard at $450-455/mt cfr Chattogram on Friday. Mills sought HMS 1&2 (80:20) below $435-440/mt cfr Chattogram.
In the bulk market, offers have dropped by $45-55/mt from their peak in the first half of January. Japanese small bulk prices dropped JPY4,000/mt ($38.58/mt) with Tokyo Steel cutting scrap purchase prices twice this week. Mills are waiting for prices to stabilize before initiating new bookings.
Indian mills offered Sponge at $350-360/mt cpt Benapole or $360-370/mt cfr Chattogram, down by $25-30/mt from the prior week. Market participants expect Sponge prices to fall amid weak domestic demand in India.
Domestic scrap drops over BDT3,000/mt
The weekly index for ship scrap equivalent to P&S dropped by BDT2,750/mt ($32/mt) to BDT39,500/mt ($466.02/mt) ex-works. Domestic HMS 1&2 (80:20) index dropped by BDT3,625/mt to BDT37,750/mt ex-yards Chattogram. On Friday, a few yards offered domestic scrap at BDT38,000/mt ex-works. Prices have dropped by over BDT3,000/mt in the last two weeks after they peaked in early January.
Domestic billet traded at BDT49,500-50,000/mt ex-works Chattogram pulling the weekly index down by BDT1,250/mt Friday. The index for large steelmakers’ rebar, Friday, dropped by BDT750/mt to BDT65,000/mt ex-works. Mills witnessed strong resistance from buyers as prices hit a record high. Despite squeezed margins, mills offered discounts of BDT1,000-1,500/mt to encourage sales. On Friday, mills showed a willingness to lower rebar prices amid a continued fall in imported scrap prices.
Medium-scale mills in Dhaka, however, sold rebar at BDT59,000-60,000/mt ex-works amid slow demand. They lowered prices to secure orders from infrastructure projects.
For shipbreakers, scrapped vessels offer maintained downtrend losing by $50/ldt from their peak levels last week. Yards would wait for another $10-20/ldt drop to resume trades, said recyclers. Shipbreaking plates traded at BDT43,000/mt ex-yards.
($1=BDT84.76, JPY103.68)