Pakistan and Bangladesh remained major buyers of vessels as their recently announced national budgets could favor the recycling industry.
In India, although COVID-19 cases are gradually decreasing and the supply of oxygen is also back on track, steel prices declined in the last week amid low demand from the end-users as monsoons have slowed construction activities.
Markets in Turkey remained silent this week, and ferrous scrap import prices declined $6/mt, which are expected to soften further.
India
Markets in India remained silent in the past week, with Pakistan and Bangladesh securing more scrapped vessels.
A few non-ferrous/stainless steel reefers and passenger’s vessels, however, have made it Alang last week.
Re-rolling scrap price rose this week amid tight supply despite rolling mills buying on a need basis. On Friday, the index for 14Ani rose by Rs600/mt ($8.11/mt) ex-Alang from last week.
Pakistan
Pakistan emerged as the top buyer this week again, with purchases of two tankers named DUBRA and ELKA ANGELIQUE with 8392ldt and 10,182ldt at $588/ldt and $590/ldt, respectively.
The government has proposed the reduction or removal of customs duty, additional customs duty, on imports of HRC, and hot-rolled stainless steel.
Bangladesh
Imported containerized scrap increased by $13/mt last week. Offers for scrapped vessels increased by $10/ldt last week. Thus, ship recyclers with their rolling mills were keen to buy ships rather than importing ferrous scrap.
Turkey
Imported ferrous scrap prices declined this week and are expected to decline further. The depreciation of Lira to TRY8.71 against $1 from TRY8.3 early last week also dampened sentiment.
Ship arrivals in Turkey could increase in the near term, but last week no arrivals were reported.
The rising tally of COVID-19 continued to affect the country even though over 1mn people were vaccinated in the previous week.