Pakistani ferrous importers slowed purchases seeking clarity on international prices trends. Bids for containerized scrap lagged despite limited inventories with mills. There was increasing resistance against high offers as finished steel demand remains dull discouraging scrap restocking.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Monday, settled unchanged at $515/mt cfr Port Qasim from Friday. Offers remained firm amid depleting inventories. Expectations from sellers were in the range of $515-520/mt cfr Qasim on elevated containerised freights, yet mills showed very limited interest to pay above $512-515/mt cfr Qasim as traders found it difficult to achieve higher levels on Monday.
In Turkey, a pause in bulk scrap purchases held prices largely unchanged over the week. The gap of $10-15/mt between offers and bids led to the suspension of deals. The daily Davis Index for imports of US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) remained stable at $502.5/mt cfr Turkey.
The daily Davis Index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), Monday, inched up to $480/mt cfr Port Qasim from Friday. Offers for UAE-origin mixed #1 HMS and P&S reported stable at $490-495/mt cfr Qasim driven by Indian buying appetite at higher prices.
The daily index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), Monday, settled stable at $490/mt cfr Port Qasim. Yards in the US limited supply to Asia as domestic prices remained strong. Mixed sentiments from both coasts kept seaborne trades thin. West Coast sellers lowered offers to encourage buying while yards in the Etast Coast held offers firm on tight supply.
In the domestic market, steel demand showed signs of improvement ahead of optimism around the budget announcement which is supposed to be presented on June 11.
Domestic Bala billet prices inched up by PKR1,000/mt to PKR115,500/mt ($740/mt) ex-works Lahore. On Monday, local rebar offered at PK129,000-129,500/mt ex-works, with prices moving down by PKR1,000/mt from Friday. Offers for rebar from large mills remained stable at PKR142,500/mt ex-works Karachi and PKR141,000/mt ex-works Punjab amid slow demand.
Domestic ferrous scrap prices dropped amid weak demand. Prices for Art Q toke scrap (equivalent to a mix of HMS and P&S) and Pure Q toke scrap (equivalent to shredded), Monday dropped by PKR500-700/mt to PKR92,300-92,500/mt and PKR93,000-93,500/mt ex-yard Lahore respectively.
The Pakistani rupee continued to depreciate reaching near PKR155.47 against the US dollar from PKR153.5 on May 30.
($1=PKR155.47)