Bangladeshi mills slowed their ferrous scrap purchases amid rising prices and volatility in the Chinese steel market. Some steel mills in Chattogram purchased scrap only to maintain inventories for the next two months. Most medium and small-scale furnaces have stepped away from the market to avoid losses.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Thursday, settled at $485/mt cfr Chattogram, down $2.5/mt. Trades remained paused as buyers were cautious of high offers. Offers for shredded remained at $490-500/mt cfr Chattogram on elevated freight rates.
The sharp rise in Japanese scrap prices amid successive price hikes by Tokyo Steel and higher bids by Hyundai Steel could force Bangladeshi mills to turn back to the US and European bulk suppliers. Bulk offers of HMS 1&2 (80:20) heard above $490-495/mt cfr Chattogram on Thursday.
Some mills could resume negotiations to restock seaborne scrap before prices move up further. Japanese suppliers continued to keep offers firm after a Chinese mill bought bulk at $490/mt cfr China. Japanese #2 HMS was offered at $475-480/mt cfr Chattogram.
On Thursday, the Chinese domestic daily spot billet price index inched down by CNY20/mt to settle at CNY4,410/mt ($681/mt) ex-Tangshan including VAT. In the export market, offers remained high in the range of $605-610/mt cfr in Southeast Asia and China.
The index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America on Thursday settled unchanged at $456/mt cfr Chattogram, down $2/mt. Traders bought containers of HMS 1&2 (90:10) at $455-460/mt cfr Chattogram. Trades for HMS 1&2 (80:20) reported at $445-450/mt cfr Chattogram.
The daily Davis Index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $460/mt cfr Chattogram, down $2.5/mt. Offers were at $465-475/mt cfr Chattogram but few buyers were interested in those levels.
Indian Sponge iron export offers at $405-410/mt cfr Benapole or $415-420/mt cfr Chattogram.
Steel prices stay high, trades slow
Amid short supply, ship scrap equivalent to P&S rose to BDT45,500-45,800/mt ex-yards up by BDT200-300/mt from Wednesday. Ship plates of 16mm size traded at BDT50,500-51,000/mt ex-yards. Supply from shipbreaking activities is expected to increase with most yards ramping up demolition. Earlier, vessel arrivals were delayed due to congestions at transhipments ports.
Domestic billet prices surged to BDT55,500-56,000/mt ex-works Chattogram, up by $1,000-1,500/mt from early week levels. Mills offered billets at prices only above BDT57,000/mt ex-works amid increased input costs, lack of sales at these levels could pressure prices down to BDT54,000-54,500/mt ex-works, said mill owners.
On tight availability and increasing competition to secure low-priced stocks, rebar prices from the medium-scale mills rose to BDT64,000-64,500/mt ex-works. Large steelmakers kept rebar prices at BDT67,500-68,000/mt ex-works.
($1=BDT84.72)