Bangladeshi steel mills, away from the market till now, have resumed inquiries on Wednesday. Mills have been left with no option but to procure imported scrap at high prices amid depleting inventories and tightening the supply of domestic scrap. European lockdown due to COVID-19 and a shortage of containers could cause international freight costs to jump, resulting in overall high landing costs.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Wednesday, settled at $467.14/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $1.78/mt. Offers for containerized shredded from the UK and US yards are scarce, with a few above $475-480/mt cfr Chattogram on Wednesday. Bids for containerized P&S scrap were at $475/mt cfr Chattogram with no suppliers at those levels.
For Asian bulk buyers, a few suppliers quoted $500/mt cfr Chattogram for US-origin mixed HMS 1&2 (80:20) following sharp rise in the Turkish market.
Japanese scrap, preferred by Bangladeshi mills rather than high-priced scrap from the UK and the US, has surged sharply on rising enquiries from Taiwan and Vietnam. These buyers are restocking amid possibility of Chinese buyers returning aggressively to the market in January. Thus, there were hardly any offers of Japanese scrap to Bangladesh as well.
HMS scrap trades pick a pace
The Davis Index for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $455/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $5/mt from Wednesday. In a deal confirmed to Chattogram-based mill, 4,500mt of UK-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) was reported at $453-455/mt cfr Chattogram with indications of a further rise in the coming days. Offers from Australia and the US were at $465-470/mt cfr Chattogram.
The daily index for Latin America-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) Wednesday rose $5/mt to settle at $453/mt cfr Chattogram. Offers for Latin American mix HMS #1 and P&S rose to $455-465/mt cfr Chattogram on Wednesday, while a few containers were booked at $455-460/mt cfr Chattogram from Australia, New Zealand and Chile in the last two days.
Domestic prices firm
Ship scrap equivalent to P&S remained firm after rebounding by BDT1,500-2,000/mt on Monday. The grade on Wednesday at BDT39,500-40,000/mt ex-works. Domestic HMS 1&2 (80:20) offers at BDT38,000-38,500/mt ex-yards Chattogram. The cost of construction has gone up sharply in Bangladesh, following high raw materials prices.
Domestic billet trades were at BDT48,000-48,500/mt ex-works Chattogram, still behind global trends and many mills are attempting to further raise asking rates. Large-scale rebar makers held offers to pass higher input costs. Prices for rebar were at BDT62,500-65,000/mt ex-works.
($1= BDT84.68)