Following rising global ferrous scrap in the bulk market, offers in the containers too witnessed a jump in Pakistan. After a short break, end-user demand in Pakistan has started picking up with steel prices turn up by PKR300-500/mt.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Wednesday, rose by $3.36/mt to settle at $328.93/mt cfr Port Qasim. Trades for containerized EU and UK origin shredded reported at $325-328/mt cfr Port Qasim. Most offers from the EU/UK were at $330-332/mt cfr Port Qasim on Wednesday following strengthening global cues. Offers have climbed to an almost 16-month high.
Mega infrastructure projects are gradually resuming and steel demand, as well as prices in Pakistan, are likely to improve in the next few days. Prices for Bala billet and rebar have shown an uptick recently to pass on high input costs. Rebar prices were flat for over a month, if prices move up it could support scrap buyers raise their bids.
The Davis Index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $318/mt cfr Port Qasim, up by $3/mt from Tuesday. Mills preferred shredded over HMS scrap this week. Offers for Dubai-origin #1 HMS in containers were above $320-325/mt cfr Port Qasim on Wednesday. The index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $317.86/mt cfr Port Qasim, up by $2.41/mt from Tuesday. Offers for the grade from the US and UK origin ferrous scrap suppliers were also above $315/mt cfr Port Qasim. From the prior Wednesday, prices have increased by $6-10/mt for HMS containers.
In the domestic market, Bala billet prices were at PKR91,000-91,500/mt ($567-572/mt) ex-works Punjab amid recovering demand. Leading Karachi-based producers offered rebar at PKR109,500-110,000/mt ex-works, up by PKR500/mt from the prior week. In Punjab, mills refused to offer G-60 rebar at prices below PKR109,000-109,500/mt ex-works. Domestic Pure Q toke scrap, equivalent to shredded sold at PKR68,700-69,000/mt del Lahore mill at prices up by PKR300-500/mt from the last week.
The Pakistan Association of Large Steel Producers (PALSP) on Wednesday greeted government’s step to reduce power tariffs for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and industries. It insists on a rebate policy across the sector irrespective of whether the rebate is 25pc or 50pc. The classification of 50pc rebate to B-1 to B-3 and 25pc to B-4 could result in disrupting the level playing fields in different sectors of the industry, stated stat.
Pakistan’s currency has continued to appreciate falling below the 160 mark for the first time in the last five months. This could help traders to import more scrap in the coming days.
($1=PKR159.7)