Imported ferrous scrap prices in Pakistan continued their uptick with more mills returning to restock scrap. Pakistani buyers are consistently offering attractive bids pushing offers even higher. Inquiries from Bangladesh and India are improving though at a slower pace than Pakistan.
Higher rebar and HRC prices in Pakistan increased demand for ferrous scrap. A recovery in Asian billet prices with offers climbing above $695-700/mt cfr China boosted sentiments in India, Vietnam and other Southeast countries. Also, steel prices in China are rising on production cuts which is supporting the short-term outlook for global steel prices.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Tuesday, rose by $5/mt to settle at $530/mt cfr Qasim. On Tuesday, most offers for UK/EU-origin shredded were at $532-538/mt cfr Qasim. Trades for over 5,000mt containerized shredded confirmed at $528/mt, $530/mt and $532/mt cfr Qasim. With sellers offering high amid elevated freight and tight vessel availability, mills are left with no option other than to accept higher offers.
In Turkey, the daily Davis Index for bulk imports of US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), Monday, was at $446.39/mt cfr Turkey, slightly up by $0.03/mt from Friday. Trades for October shipments resumed at stable prices confirming that prices have ‘very low to little downside’ risk.
The daily index for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $488.75/mt cfr Port Qasim on Tuesday, up by $2.5/mt. On the improving demand from the various Asian markets and higher containerized freight charges, offers rose by $3-5/mt from the US, especially from the West Coast suppliers.
The daily Davis Index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) rose to $490/mt cfr port Qasim, up by $4/mt amid optimism over demand recovery. A few deals for UAE-origin P&S, Tuesday, confirmed at $505/mt and $507/mt cfr Port Qasim.
Demand for rebar started picking up with the start of construction season in Pakistan. Listed rebar prices from large rebar producers were at PKR175,000/mt ex works in Lahore. Commercial rebar traded at PKR156,000-156,500/mt ex-works.
For domestic Bala billets, offers dropped slightly by PKR1,000/mt on Tuesday to PKR137,500/mt ($828.9/mt) ex-works.
In the domestic market, offers for scrap continued to consolidate following tight supply and healthy demand. Meanwhile, higher imported ferrous scrap offers supported local scrap prices. For Art Q toke scrap (equivalent to a mix of HMS and P&S) offers were at PKR110,000/mt ex-yards Lahore, while those for Pure Q toke scrap (equivalent to shredded) rose by PKR500/mt above PKR112,500/mt ex-yards Lahore.
Demolition activities in the Gadani are expected to resume amid indications that melting scrap prices have bottomed out. Offers for scrapped vessels were unchanged in the range of $570-590/ldt cnf Gadani yards. Also, ship plate prices remained high.
($1=PKR167.08)