India’s stainless steel (SS) scrap imported trades were low on Tuesday amid a disturbed market scenario in India due to lockdown announcements and related uncertainties. The official LME nickel three-month contract slipped 1pc by $142/mt to $16,262/mt on Monday.
Offers for 304 and 316 remained high while very few deals and bids were heard from Indian consumers. The weekly Davis Index for 304 (18-8) solids on Tuesday settled at $1,669/mt cfr India port, up by $11/mt. Demand has fallen which led to few-to-no bids being heard on Tuesday. Some buyers are bidding at a difference of $50-100/mt from the offers, resulting in rare deals. Domestic prices in India for 304 (18-8) was heard to be around $1,600/mt. Few deals were heard at $1,660-1,670/mt cfr India port.
The weekly Davis Index for 316 solids settled flat at $2,251/mt cfr India port on Tuesday. Most offers did not vary from last week. Demand is low for 316 too. Offers were heard at $2,250-2,270/mt cfr India port. Some deals were heard at $2,250/mt cfr India port.
The weekly Davis Index for 430 solids on Tuesday fell by $19/mt to $629/mt cfr India port, owing to lowered bids at around $580/mt while offers were rangebound at $600-650/mt cfr India port. The weekly Davis Index for Zurik 85/3 on Tuesday settled at $1,422/mt cfr India port, up by $19/mt. Zurik 85/3 has mostly jumped on the back of upswing in copper prices. The official three-month LME copper contract is up 5pc, or by $514/mt, over the week. The 3pc copper in Zurik 85/3 has driven prices of the grade.
With a spike in COVID-19 cases and ensuing panic with workers fleeing to their hometowns before the situation worsens, has brought about a chaos in the market. However, market participants expect demand to bounce back after lockdown is lifted and vaccination drive gains momentum, which may bring the market back to normalcy. Hence, some market participants feel this is the right time to buy material but sellers are reluctant to sell at these bidding levels for India as they wait for nickel prices to rise and pull scrap prices up.
Taiwan Imports
The weekly Davis Index for Taiwan’s 304 (18-8) solids settled at $1,438/mt cfr Taiwan port, marginally down by $8/mt. Mills booked material at $1,430/mt cfr Taiwan port. The weekly Davis Index for 316 solids settled at $2,098/mt, down by $42/mt in line with a dip in weekly LME levels. Taiwan’s prices moved in sync with LME this week as well.