Imported scrap offers in India for higher grades were firm despite the country dealing with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most states have announced movement restrictions akin to lockdown. Although manufacturing and transportation activities are permitted by the government, insufficient workforce in some states, including Maharashtra has impacted functioning.
A shortage of vaccine dosages has slowed the inoculation drive, dampening market sentiment.
Demand for HMS continued to pick up on the tight supply of domestic material and the resulting rise in prices. Domestic HMS 1&2 (80:20) prices rose over Rs2,000/mt to Rs32,500/mt ex works Mumbai in a week and are at par with material from UAE. On Friday, Dubai-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) climbed up by $5-10/mt. Yards have cut down working hours with the start of Ramadan. Many small-to-medium-scale secondary mills have thus adopted a wait-and-watch strategy.
Offers for containerized shredded from the UK/EU were at $465-470/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. The Davis Index for containerized shredded settled at $462.5/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, up by $5/mt from a day ago, but by $2.5/mt from last Friday.
Most steelmakers preferred to purchase HMS from supplier countries with shorter delivery periods like UAE, Africa, and Latin America. The daily Davis Index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), Friday, was at $433/cfr Nhava Sheva, up by $3/mt. Offers for Dubai-origin HMS #1 were at $440-445/mt cfr Nhava Sheva.
The index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) Friday settled at $432.5/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, up by $3.75/mt from a day prior. Offers surged as demand improved from Taiwan and Vietnam for US-origin scrap. Offers for HMS 1&2 (80:20) were at $435-440/mt cfr Nhava Sheva with buyers’ interest around $425-430/mt cfr Nhava Sheva on Friday.
Offers for turning scrap were above $400-405/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, up by $10/mt from a week ago. Offers for West African HMS for 20-21mt loading with CI-GI were at $400-405/mt cfr Goa.
Offers for busheling in containers were in the range of $510-515/mt cfr Vizag. Mills stayed away from booking containerized P&S and #1 busheling. The indexes for P&S and #1 busheling were at $475/mt and $493/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, respectively, both up by $3/mt from last week.
On Friday, melting scrap offers in Alang rose by Rs1,300/mt to Rs35,700-35,800/mt ex-yards. From last Friday, Alang heavy melt scrap prices have spiked by Rs2,700-3,200/mt ($32-36/mt) due to a severe shortage of oxygen impairing operations at yards. A shortage of tonnages also forced some yards to stay shut. Thus, scrap and ship plates supply has dropped, lifting prices.
In Jalna, Maharashtra, over 40pc of steel production has been impacted due to the diversion of over 80pc of total oxygen supply for medical usage. In Mumbai, one of the major scrap consumer markets, rebar prices surged by Rs1,000-1,200/mt in a day to Rs50,000/mt ex-works. But a lockdown in the state has hampered construction work hurting rebar sales and thereby scrap consumption.
Indian primary mills focused on securing HRC and billet export orders, prices for which are expected to rise in the coming days on strong global cues.
Subcontinent
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded Friday settled at $457.38/mt cfr Indian subcontinent, up by $5.04/mt from a day prior; while that for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) was at $431.50/mt cfr Indian subcontinent, up by $3.69/mt from Thursday.
($1=Rs74.37)