Most of the Bangladeshi mills ramped up production on Monday as the national lockdown is set to be lifted on Aug 10. From Wednesday, movement restrictions on people, goods, and vehicular traffic will be relaxed in phases.
Steelmakers have raised asking rates for billet and rebar by upto BDT2,000/mt ($23.67/mt) as the lockdown nears completion. From mid-July, the country witnessed production cuts. With the lockdown nearing end, mills have started ramping up production.
Although the lockdown will open, the number of COVID-19 cases is yet to come under control. This could delay demand recovery, state some participants.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Monday, settled at $547.5/mt cfr Chattogram, unchanged from Friday. Offers for containerised shredded were at $550-555/mt cfr Chattogram. Trading for containerized scrap was slow as a rise in freights rates from the US West Coast made mills shift to bulk options.
A deal for mixed bulk cargo was heard for end September shipments at a HMS 1&2 (80:20) price equivalent of $545/mt cfr Chattogram. The price was above present market level since it was booked for urgent requirement, state market participants.
Containerized freight rates surged from Los Angeles, Oakland, and Seattle by $40-50/mt but were flat from New York, Miami, Savannah, and Baltimore from a week ago.
The daily index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $518.75/mt cfr Chattogram, unchanged from Friday. The indexes for UK-origin and Australia-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) were unchanged on Monday at $512/mt and $520/mt cfr Chattogram, respectively.
The daily Davis Index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America Monday rose by $1/mt to $508/mt cfr Chattogram. Some small-tonnage deals were confirmed in the range of $507-510/mt cfr Chattogram. Bids were between $505-510/mt cfr Chattogram while traders have been struggling to find empty containers for exports.
Availability of oxygen for medical use remains insufficient, and large-scale mills have ramped up production to aid hospitals. Workers have started to return to factories, and rainfall is also likely to recede in the coming weeks.
Offers for shipbreaking scrap equivalent to P&S were at BDT50,000/mt ($590/mt) ex-yards, up BDT500/mt from Friday. A rise in ship vessels asking rates to $620-630/ldt for container ships made recyclers raise domestic rolling and melting scrap offers. For ship plates, asking rates were unchanged at BDT58,000/mt ex- yards on Monday.
For rebar, large-scale mills have raised asking rates by BDT1,000-2,000/mt from earlier prices. Rebar from large-scale mills on Monday was offered in the range of BDT72,000-73,500/mt ex-works, depending on the brand. Demand for rebar by medium-scale mills is slow but showed signs of recovery.
($1=BDT84.48)