The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded Friday remained flat at $325/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, but prices rose by $4/mt from the prior Friday. Traders bought more containers at $323-325/mt cfr Nhava Sheva in anticipation of strong demand in mid-September. Indian imported ferrous scrap prices scaled a 13-month high despite weak demand supported by tight supply.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded on Friday remained flat at $325/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, but prices rose by $4/mt from prior Friday. A few mills are selling their finished stock at deep discounts to maintain cash flow. Traders bought more containers at $320-325/mt cfr Nhava Sheva in anticipation of strong demand in mid-September. UK-origin containerized shredded were offered at $330/mt cfr Nhava Sheva and Mundra on Friday. With scrap trending up in global markets, most traders refused to offer material at lower levels. Mills preferred domestic scrap to control costs.
In the bulk market, no trade for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) were reported as the gap between offers and bids widened. Offers from the US West Coast were at $320-325/mt cfr Kandla but bids were not above $315/mt cfr Kandla on weak domestic demand.
The weekly Davis Index for UK/Europe-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $300/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, up by $10/mt from the prior week. Offers for UK-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) and shredded scrap were heard at $305/mt cfr Nhava Sheva.
The daily Davis Index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $309.19/mt cfr Nhava Sheva Friday, up by $1.44/mt from Thursday. Deals for Dubai-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) were at $308/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. Suppliers refused to accept lower bids of $300-302/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. #1 HMS scrap from Dubai yard was at $308-310/mt cfr Nhava Sheva.
The index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) Thursday settled at $308/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, unchanged from Thursday. Most US supplier yards have diverted their attention to Taiwan and Turkey markets where bids are higher than South Asia. A few trades of US and UK-origins HMS materialised in Bangladesh pushed up offers.
The index for South African HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $302.5/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, up by $5/mt from the prior week. South African sellers continued to offer HMS at $300-305/mt cfr Nhava Sheva while for 25-26mt loading offers were at $305-310/mt cfr Nhava Sheva amid limited availability with African yards. If supplies from South Africa resume, the availability of scrap in the Indian markets will in the next couple of days, said traders. Offers for #1 HMS were heard at $308-310/mt cfr Qasim and Mundra in line with global cues but no buyers bid close to these levels.
In Goa, steel mills resumed trades for imported West African scrap, comprising higher ferrous content to blend with Sponge iron. Bids from mills were around $270-275/mt cfr Goa while mills in Chennai offered West Africa-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $285-290/mt cfr Chennai this week.
Trades for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Australia were reported at $310/mt cfr Chennai depending on quality. Most Brazilian suppliers were targeting high prices from Indian buyers amid high realisations in the domestic markets.
The weekly indexes for higher grade scrap like busheling and P&S in containers were at $340/mt cfr and $326/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, up $4/mt and $6/mt, respectively, from the prior week. Trades for higher grades scrap, albeit limited, gained movement from the earlier weeks amid recovering auto sector. CRC and Busheling scrap availability remained tight pushing offers up. A sharp jump in Turning scrap offers from supplier countries like Germany, Belgium pushed the weekly index for Turning scrap by another $4/mt to $285/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. Most mills use Turning scrap to fill up empty spaces in furnaces during the melting process. Productions ramp up by secondary mills have increased enquiries for Turning scrap.
Billet export prices up
Indian billet sold at $455/mt cfr China in a recent tender by a state-owned mill in line with rising offers from Iran and CIS suppliers. Iranian exporters sold slab at $430-435/mt fob and billet at $405-410/mt fob Iran, equivalent to $450/mt cfr Thailand, as per Davis sources. Increasing in billet prices in the export market could help mills book imported scrap at higher prices. Some mills expect billet prices to drop in the coming days.
Domestic scrap
Major steelmakers have raised steel prices and are paying high prices for domestic scrap. These mills are keen to secure scrap inventories as they are ramping up production. Higher scrap prices are hurting small and medium scale mills in India as they have to either pass input costs or face margin compression.
Subcontinent
The Davis Index for containerized shredded, Friday, settled at $318.4/mt cfr India subcontinent, up $1/mt from Thursday. The daily Davis Index for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $300.4/mt cfr India subcontinental, up $0.1/mt from Thursday. Freights from the US east coast remained stable for Bangladesh and India while marginally moved up for Pakistan on limited availability, as per Davis analysis.
($1=Rs73.55)