India’s imported ferrous scrap prices dropped by $8-10/mt this week. Prices are likely to decline further next week. Trades remain slow as mills are purchasing scrap merely to maintain their daily production levels. Most labourers who had left for their hometowns are likely to return in the coming days. Mills are also likely to return to the market next week to restock inventories.
The Davis Index for containerised shredded settled at $278/mt cfr Nhava Sheva on Friday, down by $2/mt from a day ago and by $8/mt from the prior week. Offers for shredded from the UK and Europe were in the range $280-285/mt cfr Nhava Sheva with no buyers at these levels.
The Davis Index for UAE-origin containerised HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $265/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $3/mt from a day ago and by $8/mt from the prior week. The daily index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $265/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $5/mt.
A fall in rebar and billet prices in the domestic steel market, mainly Mumbai dampened buying interest for imported ferrous scrap.
In a week, prices for rebar fell by Rs800-1,000/mt to Rs32,500/mt ($427/mt) ex-works. Thus, mills opted for domestic scrap priced lower at Rs20,000/mt ($263/mt) ex-works or sponge iron priced at Rs15,800/mt ($207/mt) to lower their input cost. A few buyers are waiting for prices to fall before resorting to trades. Billet prices declined by Rs2,000/mt to Rs27,000/mt ex-works from a week ago.
The index for South African HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $260/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $5/mt from the prior week. South African suppliers continued to face permit issues and there were very few fresh offers in the market.
A trade of Brazilian HMS 1&2 (80:20) with a buyer in western India was heard at $250-255/mt cfr Nhava Sheva.
The index for the UK and Europe-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) was at $253/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $2/mt from the prior week. Containerised trades for the grade concluded at $260/mt cfr Chennai. Australia-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) traded at $260-263/mt cfr Nhava Sheva and Mundra, down by $3/mt from the prior week.
In Goa and Chennai, West African HMS 1&2 (80:20) traded at $250-253/mt cfr. Bids then dropped to $245/mt cfr levels in the latter part of the week due to a fall in domestic semi-finished steel and scrap prices.
The index for busheling in containers settled at $298/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $2/mt from the prior week and the weekly index for P&S settled at $281/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $4/mt from the prior week. Turning scrap traded at $235/mt cfr Nhava Sheva with bids at $225-230/mt cfr Nhava Sheva on Friday.
East Asia
Taiwan
The index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $250/mt cfr Taiwan, down by $5/mt. Offers were at $250-253/mt cfr Taiwan. Sellers from the US and Japan started reducing offers, as expected by most importers. Mainly due to a fall in Turkey’s import prices and low demand for finished steel.
No major trades were heard on Friday with buyers expecting further reduction in prices by $5-$10/mt in the global market next week.
Offers for Australian-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) are expected to drop to $235-240/mt cfr Taiwan.
Japanese export ferrous scrap prices fell by JPY500-1,000/mt on Friday. In small bulk markets, Japanese HMS 1&2 (50:50) was offered at $260-265/mt cfr Taiwan, down by $10/mt from the prior Friday.
($1=76.16)