Steel mills in Bangladesh limited imported ferrous scrap purchase to immediate melt requirement. Only large steelmakers are active in the market, with most mills still running at partial capacity. A tight supply of domestic scrap and labour shortages have discouraged mills from ramping up production post-Eid holidays. The continued decline of steel price in China and slow demand in the domestic market also weighed on buyer sentiment.
Offers and bids have both dipped, but domestic steel demand uncertainty ahead of the arrival of monsoon season in Bangladesh discouraged buyers. The Bangladeshi government has extended its national lockdown until May 30 which has also impacted trading.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Wednesday, fell by $3.75/mt to settle at $533.93/mt cfr Chattogram.
Bangladeshi yards resisted a decade’s high prices for imported scrapped vessels. Offers for containers were at $560-570/ldt cnf Chattogram. Domestic scrap supply is tight while sellers are awaiting clarity on international prices. After price hikes, the asking rate for rebar and billets remain elevated.
The daily index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America, Thursday, dropped to $497/mt cfr Chattogram, down $3/mt from Wednesday. Some mills showed interest in the Brazilian and UK-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $490-495/mt cfr Chattogram and are willing to pay $10/mt more for the US, Australia and New Zealand origin scrap depending on quality and transit period.
The index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20), Thursday, fell by $2.64/mt to settle at $510.36/mt. While the indexes for the grade of UK and Australia-origin fell by $4/mt to $503/mt and by $2/mt to $510/mt cfr Chattogram, respectively.
($1=BDT84.8)