Pakistani ferrous scrap importers chose to stay silent on Thursday as Turkish bulk prices showed signs of softening. A decline in domestic billet prices and limited sales for rebar after a recent price hike also dampened sentiment. Still, sellers kept offers firm amid the limited availability of material for containerized trade and elevated freight levels.
Sellers from UAE kept offers for HMS scrap unchanged. A decline in buying interest in India kept prices from rising. The Davis Index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), Thursday, settled unchanged at $503/mt cfr Port Qasim. Deals for UAE-origin mixed #1 HMS and P&S were reported at $510/mt cfr Port Qasim.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Thursday, rose by $1.43/mt to $536.43/mt cfr Port Qasim, on firm offers. Mills’ bids were at $533-537/mt cfr Qasim against firm offers of $540-545/mt cfr Qasim on Thursday. Despite Turkish scrap import prices showing signs of softening, most sellers were unwilling to lower asking prices citing supply crunch.
In Turkey, the daily Davis Index for imports of US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) on Wednesday declined by $3.48/mt to $500/mt cfr Turkey on Wednesday. Steelmakers, including ICDAS, offered billets at $730/mt ex-works. Rebar export offers were firm above $750/mt fob Turkey.
Buyers continued to book shredded scrap over HMS material since the latter invokes an additional 3pc import duy. Still, the daily index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), Thursday, inched up by $1.25/mt to settle at $506.25/mt cfr Port Qasim. Container freights rates could go up further and add to landed costs for importers. US suppliers focused on the domestic markets or other Asian markets like Bangladesh and Taiwan, where bids were higher.
In the domestic market, Bala billet traded at PKR116,000-116,200/mt ex-works, down PKR300/mt from a day ago. Offers for local rebar were at PKR130,500-131,000/mt ex-works. Medium-scale steelmakers sold rebar at PKR145,500-146,000/mt ex-works Karachi and PKR144,000-144,500/mt ex-works Punjab.
On Thursday, trade prices for Art Q toke scrap (equivalent to a mix of HMS and P&S) and Pure Q toke scrap (equivalent to shredded) were at PKR94,600-94,800/mt and PKR95,500-95,700/mt ex-yard Lahore, respectively, stable from Wednesday. Market participants are still waiting for clarity on the impact of budget FY2021-22 announced on June 11.
In other updates, Chinese iron ore prices fell below $214/mt cfr north China for 62pc Fe content on Thursday. The Baltic index, an indicative for global supply-demand of vessels also hit a five-week high as it gained 87 points, or 3pc to reach 2,944 since May 13.
($1=PKR157.11)