Pakistani ferrous scrap buyers have gone silent amid elevated offer prices. Steelmakers are waiting for the market to absorb rebar price hikes before restocking. Mills tried to boost finished steel sales.
Although steelmakers had hoped for steel prices to rise on changes in fixed import tariffs, they remain stagnated. Re-rollers, however, were upbeat as they expect the move to benefit them as it has reduced taxes on rolling scrap.
The Davis Index for containerized shredded, Wednesday, settled at $470/mt cfr Port Qasim, down by $2.08/mt from Tuesday. Offers by the UK and European suppliers were at $470-475/mt cfr Port Qasim. But most buyers resisted prices over $465/mt cfr Port Qasim. Imported cast iron rotor and drums offers were at $450-470/mt cfr Nhava Sheva and Port Qasim, with no buyer interested in those prices.
Most offers for bulk HMS 1&2 (80:20) were only above $460-465/mt cfr. Turkish mills could raise bids for the remaining tonnage of seaborne scrap amid successive price hikes for rebar in the domestic market.
The index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $435/mt cfr Port Qasim, unchanged from a day ago. With the number of new COVID-19 infections falling below 50,000, March domestic settlements in the US could conclude at prices higher by $20-30/gt higher from the last month. Most yards kept offers firm and focused on domestic sales.
Trades for #1 HMS and P&S from UAE were reported at $440-445/mt cfr Port Qasim, depending on quality. The daily Davis Index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $435/mt cfr Port Qasim, unchanged from Tuesday.
Domestic billet and rebar up
On Wednesday, Bala billet traded in the domestic market at PKR107,000-108,000/mt ex-works. Billet prices remained firm after recovering by PKR14,000/mt from their bottom on January 22. Rebar was offered at PKR133,000-135,000/mt ex-works Karachi and PKR129,000-130,000/mt ex-works Punjab and Lahore. Most mills are waiting for rebar prices to reach PKR140,000/mt ex-works before they restock scrap again.
Domestic scrap firm
Trades for Pure Q toke scrap equivalent to a mix of HMS and P&S, Wednesday, were at PKR86,000-86,500/mt ex-yard Lahore. Trades for Art Pure Q toke scrap equivalent to shredded were at PKR87,700-88,000/mt ex-yard Lahore, up PKR1,000/mt from a day ago.
After a long pause, shipbreaking yards in Gadani are bustling with activity with the arrival of many vessels. The supply of shipbreaking melting sheets and re-rolling scrap will remain high. Rolling mills could opt for shipbreaking scrap. Rebar prices were at PKR125,000-126,000/mt ex-works.
($1=PKR157.3)