Bangladeshi mills were largely away from booking imported ferrous scrap, with the government announcing stringent restrictions to curb the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19. All government, non-government and autonomous organizations will remain shut until July 4 at the minimum. Also, June 30 being the last working day of the financial year, trading remained slow.
Only essential services, including port operations and ferrying of loaded trucks, covered vans, cargo vessels will be allowed.
Reduced banking hours and laborers rushing to their hometowns have negatively impact steel and raw material trading. Monsoon seasonal slowdown also kept a players out of the market.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded was at $548.75/mt cfr Chattogram on Wednesday, down by $2.08/mt. Due to weak finished steel sales amid national lockdown, most mills either postponed their purchases or kept bids very low. Most sellers were unwilling to match these bids on supply tightness.
Buying interest was at $530-545/mt cfr Chattogram for containerized shredded, depending on the origin.
The daily Davis Index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America, Wednesday, settled unchanged at $516/mt cfr Chattogram, with a few deals. Offers could stay high amid elevated freight rates and a global shortage of containers.
The firm offers, but extended silent form buyers kept the daily index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) unchanged at $527.5/mt cfr Chattogram. The indexes for the UK and Australia-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) also settled unchanged at $520/mt and $527/mt, respectively.
In the domestic market, the availability of domestic scrap was tight. Ship scrap equivalent to P&S traded flat at BDT49,500-50,000/mt ex-yards. For shipbreakers, offers for scrapped vessels were at $550-560/mt cnf, depending on the type.
On high input costs, offers for rebar and billet remained firm with only a few deals. Steelmakers are eying a hike in asking rates to accommodate the rise in imported scrap prices. Demand for Indian sponge iron imports has plummeted on transportation challenges.
($1=BDT84.8)