Indian mills continued to book domestic ferrous scrap or other alternatives over imported material. Supply has improved in many regions and is enough to meet present low demand. For imported scrap, bids still lagged by $30/mt behind offers.
Amid active orders for exports, Indian mills turned positive. Due to the Eid holidays, demand in Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia has slowed, and sellers diverted material to India.
Demand for imported scrap is expected to recover in the next couple of weeks once the peak monsoon season passes. Restrictions and the extent of the third wave of COVID-19 will also determine the direction of the imported scrap market in India.
In Mumbai, domestic HMS 1&2 (80:20) is being traded at Rs33,200/mt ($455/mt) delivered mills. The price for imported material at present offers is at $465-470/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, which translates to above $480-485/mt with handling and local transportation on a delivered mill basis. A gap of over $25/mt between domestic and imported scrap makes the latter expensive for many secondary buyers in India.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded on Tuesday, settled at $536.25/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, down $0.50/mt from Monday. Most traders kept offers for shredded firm around $540/mt cfr Nhava Sheva against bids of $530-535/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. There were only a few buyers in the market.
The daily Davis Index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) was unchanged at $475/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. There were only a few fresh offers in the Indian market.
In the Alang shipbreaking market, melting scrap continued an uptrend and rose by over Rs1,800/mt since Friday. On Tuesday, trades heard at Rs35,800/mt ex-yards, at prices up by Rs900/mt from Monday. But supply in Alang is tight which could boost imports.
In Mumbai, rebar prices rose by Rs600/mt in a day with mills’ offers at Rs48,100/mt ex-works. In Mandi Gobindgarh, ingot prices reached Rs44,900/mt ex-works on Tuesday. Should steel prices remain supported, the appetite for ferrous scrap could increase.
Chinese domestic steel prices fell by CNY150-200/mt amid government efforts to control prices. Supply is tight and buyers are uncertain about changes in policy and a possibility of export tax imposition.
Indian mills targeted $625-630/mt fob levels for billet exports while heard to have sold billet export deals at around $650/mt cfr Colombo. Driven by Chinese demand, Southeast Asian billet prices rose to $710-720/mt cfr.
Domestic billet prices were flat on Tuesday at CNY5,180/mt ex-Tangshan inclusive of VAT. In the export market, mills targeted $1,000/mt fob for HRC. International iron ore Fe 62pc were at $220.3/mt cfr North China on Monday.
Subcontinent
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded settled at $540.59/mt cfr Indian subcontinent, up by $0.18/mt; while the Davis Index for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled unchanged at $499.25/mt cfr Indian subcontinent. A shortage of containers continued in the global market. Normalized container freight was around $84.04/mt, $52.17/mt, and $47.44/mt on the New York to Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India routes, respectively, as per data maintained by Davis Index.
($1=Rs74.55)