Pakistan
Pakistani mills took a step back from the imported scrap market on Thursday. With mixed opinions on price directions, buyers decided to wait for more clarity. There is a possibility of another round of freight hikes by major shipping lines globally in early August which could support the already firm prices, state traders. Ferrous scrap inventories with mills are still short.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded dropped by $2.50/mt to $545/mt cfr Port Qasim on Thursday. Most offers were firm at $545-550/mt cfr Qasim. But, large-scale mills who are regular buyers lowered bids citing a drop in Turkish bulk scrap prices by $10-15/mt for post-Eid trades.
Scrap buyers also lowered bids for HMS citing additional taxes on the HMS grade over shredded. The daily Davis Index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) was at $503/mt cfr port Qasim, down by $2/mt. Trades for UAE-origin mixed #1 HMS and P&S were at $510-512/mt cfr Port Qasim, while deals for Brazilian HMS 1&2 (80:20) in containers were heard at $475-480/mt cfr Qasim, lower than expectations on Thursday.
In the domestic market, finished steel movement and trades are yet to be regularised and could take another couple of days. Most expect steel prices to stay firm with a recovery in demand in August.
Bangladesh
Steel and ferrous scrap markets in Bangladesh continued to stay very silent amid the two-week strict COVID-19 related nationwide lockdown till August 5. Most of the offices, industries and factories are either closed or operating with a limited workforce.
Only some large-scale mills like AKS and GPH were running operations and inquiring for imported ferrous scrap. While inventories of raw materials with rest other mills, including BSRM, remain piled up, resulting in low to no buying interest.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Thursday, settled down by $2.5/mt at $552.5/mt cfr Chattogram. Deals for the Australia-origin shredded were reported at $550/mt cfr Chattogram while UK-origin material traded in thin volume at $555/mt cfr Chattogram.
The daily index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) was down by $1.25/mt to $528.25/mt cfr Chattogram. The index for Latin America-origin material settled down by $2/mt at $513/mt cfr Chattogram, while the indexes for the UK and Australia-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) fell by $1/mt at $516/mt, and $525/mt cfr Chattogram, respectively.
Except for a few governments construction projects, steel-consuming activities remain hit and could take at least mid-August to regularise.
($1=PKR160.6;BDT84.8)