Steel mills in Bangladesh stayed largely away from booking containers of imported ferrous scrap. Heavy rains, as the Monsoons reached coastal areas, kept steel trading slow.
Driven by tight availability and raised offers, the daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Friday, rose by $5.36/mt to settle at $547.86/mt cfr Chattogram, while the index jumped by $12.86/mt from prior Friday. Offers for containerized shredded from UK/EU-yards were above $550/mt cfr Chattogram, which muted deals. Bids lagged as finished steel demand remains subdued and prices under pressure.
The gap between HMS and industrial-grade scrap widened as most sellers raised offers for prime grades due to a rise in the US domestic monthly settlements for June by $50-60/gt for prime grades. The weekly indexes for P&S and #1 busheling were at $560/mt and $583/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $15/mt and $13/mt, respectively, despite low buying interest. Sellers refused to sell busheling below $600/mt on high domestic realizations in their respective countries, keeping Bangladeshi buyers away.
The daily Davis Index for HMS 1 &2 (80:20) from Latin America, Friday, rose by $3/mt to $508/mt cfr Chattogram, while the index rose by $10/mt from prior Friday. Offers for #1 HMS remained above $512-515/mt cfr Chattogram amid better demand in other Asian countries.
On Friday, the index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) increased by $3.93/mt to $520/mt cfr. From the prior Friday, the index rose $10/mt. The index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) of UK-origin was at $515/mt and that for Australia-origin was at $520/mt cfr Chattogram, both up by $12/mt from June 4. Trades for HMS 1&2 (80:20) were limited on firm offers as buyers focused on purchases of domestic scrap.
In the domestic market, the weekly index for ship scrap equivalent to P&S settled at BDT47,250/mt ($572.44/mt) ex-yards, down by BDT1,250/mt. The index for domestic HMS 1&2 (80:20) dropped by BDT1,250/mt to BDT45,000/mt ex-yards Chattogram on Friday. Local melt scrap and rod cut bundles were offered at BDT41,000-43,000/mt ex-yards, down by BDT1,000/mt.
Several small-scale mills were busy closing their books as the fiscal year-end approached. Many steelmakers decided to sell off inventories amid a bearish monsoon outlook. The weekly index for billet dropped was at BDT59,750/mt ex-works, down BDT750/mt. For shipbreakers, scrapped vessel offers rose further while demand remained weak.
Amid heavy rains, construction demand dampened further. The weekly index for rebar from large-scale mills settled at BDT72,000/mt, down BDT500/mt ex-works. The weekly index for rebar by medium and dropped to BDT66,750/mt ex-works, while the index for rebar from small-scale steelmakers was at BDT61,250/mt ex-works, down by BDT500/mt.
Steel mills, however, claimed that steel prices are unlikely to drop to match last fiscal year’s quantum, supported by elevated imported ferrous scrap prices.
($1=BDT84.7)