Imported scrap trades in India remained slow amid a wide disparity between offers by suppliers and buying interest. Indian buyers are expected to resume trades as domestic alternatives like scrap and Sponge iron are short in supply.
Though offers dropped by over $15-20/mt this week, bids dropped faster, maintaining a gap of over $20-25/mt, leading to a standoff between yards and buyers. A few suppliers are desperate to sell before prices drop further and there is room for prices to drop $10-15/mt. But a decline over $15/mt seems unlikely on stable domestic fundamentals, claim traders.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded settled at $442.5/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $7.5/mt on Thursday. Offers for shredded remained in the range of $450-455/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. Indian buyers, however, believe there could be a further drop in offers as sales in Pakistan were heard at $435-445/mt cfr Port Qasim. Most mills thus stayed away from negotiations.
In Turkey, there was an extended silence as many mills have pre-booked material. Negotiations for HMS 1&2 (80:20) in bulk were reported around $450/mt cfr Turkey. Offers in the subcontinent thus have dropped.
The daily Davis Index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), Thursday, settled at $403/cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $8/mt. Buyers in North and West India continued to resist present offer levels and opted for domestic supplies. On Thursday, a few offers for Dubai-origin HMS #1 and P&S were at $410-415/mt cfr Nhava Sheva with bids falling to $400-405/mt cfr Nhava Sheva.
The daily index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), Thursday, was at $420/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, down by $4/mt. Offers for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the UK and Australia were at $425-435/mt cfr Nhava Sheva.
Turning scrap was offered at $390-395/mt cfr Nhava Sheva with interest at $375-380/mt cfr on Thursday. For cast iron rotors drums, there were no buyers at present offer levels of $450-460/mt cfr Nhava Sheva.
Shipbreaking melting scrap prices in Alang, Thursday, inched up by Rs100-200/mt to Rs31,100-31,200/mt ex-Alang. Ingot prices rose by Rs400-500/mt to Rs40,400-40,500/mt ex-Mandi, keeping scrap demand bullish. Indian mills are expected to resume trades for imported scrap actively in late March due to limited inventories and a possible short supply of domestic scrap.
In China, Baosteel announced a hike in HRC prices by CNY300/mt for April shipments. Steel futures continued their uptrend. On Thursday, imported iron ore with 62pc Fe content was at prices above $167/mt cfr North China. Domestic billet prices in the retail market recovered by CNY20/mt to CNY4,320/mt ex-Tangshan, including VAT.
Subcontinent
On Thursday, the daily Davis Index for containerized shredded dropped to $444.99/mt cfr Indian subcontinent, down by $7.23/mt. The daily index for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $427.95/mt cfr Indian subcontinent, down $3.93/mt from Wednesday.
($1=Rs72.47)