The weekly Davis Index for cast iron, rotors, and drums, Wednesday, settled at $452/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $6/mt. Amid a mismatch between offers and bids, deals for cast iron rotor drums tapered. There were only a few offers at $455/mt cfr Mundra in the market, with bids $15-20/mt below these levels amid fears of lockdown hurting the economy.
Indian mills sought imported scrap amid domestic scrap shortage. Limited volume deals of HMS from Dubai and Latin America were heard on Wednesday. Dubai-based suppliers have reduced their working hours and kept their offers firm.
Indian currency depreciated to an eight-month low of Rs75 against $1, impacting the demand for imported scrap.
The daily Davis Index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), Wednesday, settled at $423/cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $2/mt. Dubai-origin HMS #1 traded at $435/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, with offers at $440/mt cfr Nhava Sheva on short supply.
Offers for shredded in containers from the UK/EU were above $460/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. The Davis Index for containerized shredded settled at $457.5/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $2.5/mt from Tuesday following lowered bids from mills because of domestic uncertainty.
The index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) Wednesday settled at $427.5/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $3.25/mt from a day prior. Bookings for HMS 1&2 (80:20) were at $420-425/mt cfr Nhava Sheva with bids at $415/mt cfr Mundra.
On Wednesday, melting scrap offers in Alang rose by Rs700/mt to Rs33,900-34,000/mt ex-yards. A shortage of oxygen cylinders resulted in the closure of some yards. Consequently, scrap and ship plates supply went down, pushing prices up.
The spread of COVID-19 has forced workers to demand their safety or extended leaves. In Maharashtra, the state government has announced 14 days of stringent movement restrictions, which could dampen overall end-user demand. Ingot prices in the Mandi Gobindgarh, thus dropped further on Wednesday on weak demand.
In Southeast Asia, deals for billet slowed down. Offers were at around $650-660/mt cfr China. Indian primary mills focused on HRC sales where there is a possibility of another price hike in April of around Rs5,000/mt following international prices.
In China, bullish demand for high-grade iron ore and competition among steel mills to secure supply has pushed iron ore prices up. Spot imported iron ore 62pc ferrous content prices on Wednesday were at $172.5/mt cfr North China. In India, NMDC announced a price hike for iron ore fines by Rs500/mt for the second time in April.
Subcontinent
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Wednesday settled at $453.19/mt cfr Indian subcontinent, down by $3.14/mt from a day prior; while that for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) was at $426.81/mt cfr Indian subcontinent, down by $3.5/mt from Tuesday.
($1=Rs74.28)