Bangladeshi mills booked limited quantum of ferrous scrap containers, as the country went under strict nationwide lockdown for seven days starting June 28. A surge in the Delta variant of the COVID-19 in Bangladesh has pressured demand. Financial year closing kept mills focussed on account books closure.
Transportation remained impacted due to stringent restrictions. The movement of people has also been kept to a bare minimum. Reduced banking hours and laborers rushing to their hometowns could negatively impact steel and raw material trading.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded was at $550.83/mt cfr Chattogram on Tuesday, up by $0.83/mt. In a deal, UK-origin containerized shredded sold at $558/mt cfr Chattogram. But most buyers held bids at $530-545/mt cfr Chattogram, depending on origins.
Steel demand in the Bangladesh domestic market remained affected due to the monsoon, along with the lockdown. Except for large steelmakers, most furnaces and re-rollers were out of the market and are mulling production cuts.
The daily Davis Index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America, Tuesday, inched down by $1/mt at $516/mt cfr Chattogram on low bids. Sellers, however, kept offers above $518-520/mt waiting for demand to improve. Elevated freight rates and a global shortage of containers have kept landed costs for containerized scrap high. On firm offers, the daily index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) rose by $1.25/mt to $527.5/mt cfr Chattogram.
A deal for containerized #1 HMS was reported at $530/mt cfr Chattogram. The indexes for the UK and Australia-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled unchanged at $520/mt and $527/mt, respectively.
In the domestic market, the availability of domestic scrap was tight. Ship scrap equivalent to P&S traded flat at BDT49,500-50,000/mt ex-yards. For shipbreakers, offers for scrapped vessels were at $550-560/mt cnf, depending on the type. But recyclers in Bangladesh kept their bids lower than their Pakistani counterparts.
On high input costs, offers for rebar and billet remained firm with only a few deals. Steelmakers are eying a hike in asking rates to accommodate the firm imported scrap prices. Restricted movements have also led to congestion at Chattogram port congestion and additional charges.
Bangladeshi mills stayed away from booking sponge iron from India.
($1=BDT84.8)