Pakistani ferrous scrap importers booked containerized scrap after raising bids by $10-15/mt from a week prior. A jump in rebar, billet and HRC prices in the domestic market by PKR2,500-3,500/mt supported mills to restock depleting ferrous scrap inventories. Participants were upbeat by the budget announcement scheduled on Friday as the government is targeting a GDP growth of 4.8pc for fiscal year 2021-22, compared to 3.94 pc achieved in 2020-21. A few mills focused on closing their accounts books since June is the last month for the ongoing financial year.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Friday, rose by $4.73/mt to $528.04/mt cfr Port Qasim from Thursday and up by $13.04/mt from the prior Friday. Containerized trades for the UK/EU shredded picked up and suppliers raised offers. Deals for shredded in the last two days were between $523-528/mt cfr Port Qasim. Following strengthening global cues, expectations from sellers on Friday were above $530-535/mt cfr Port Qasim.
A resumption in Turkish bulk scrap purchases gave Asian containerized bookings a push. The daily Davis Index for imports of US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) was up by $4.02/mt to $510.58/mt cfr Turkey on Thursday. Turkish mills raised rebar to $735-740/mt fob, up by more than $20/mt from the prior week.
Offers for UAE-origin HMS scrap spiked amid demand recovery. The Davis Index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), Friday, settled at $498/mt cfr Port Qasim, up by $4/mt from a day ago and by $20/mt from last Friday. Trades for UAE-origin mixed #1 HMS and P&S were reported at $505-510/mt cfr Port Qasim amid tight supply and a jump in rebar asking rates by PKR3,000/mt.
The daily index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), Friday, settled at $501.5/mt cfr Port Qasim, up by $4/mt. The index increased by $11.5/mt from the prior Friday. In New York, the weekly index for the grade was up by $15/mt fas on Thursday. US yards were offering limited quantities in Asia as domestic demand is healthy and material availability with yards is low due to declined collection rates.
The Davis Indexes for P&S 5ft and #1 busheling jumped by $13/mt to $543/mt and $563/mt cfr Port Qasim, respectively, from the prior Friday. Offers for high-grade scrap remained firm amid tight supply.
Finished steel prices jump on budget boost
In the domestic market, steel trades remained slow as elevated offers hit buying sentiment. The index for domestic Bala billet jumped by PKR2,750/mt to PKR117,250/mt ($754/mt) ex-works. The weekly Davis Index for G-60 billet was at PKR124,500/mt ex-works Punjab, up PKR2,500/mt from the prior Friday.
Local rebar was offered at PKR131,000/mt ex-works, prices which were up by PKR1,000/mt from the prior week. The weekly Davis Indexes for rebar rose by PKR3,000/mt to PKR145,500/mt ex-works Karachi and PKR144,000/mt ex-works Punjab on Friday.
Domestic ferrous scrap supply remained tight. The weekly indexes for Art Q toke scrap (equivalent to a mix of HMS and P&S) and Pure Q toke scrap (equivalent to shredded), Friday, settled at PKR94,250/mt and PKR95,500/mt ex-yard Lahore, up by PKR1,250/mt and PKR1,500/mt, respectively.
($1=PKR155.87)