Demand for finished steel in Bangladesh started improving, albeit, at a slow pace. The resurgence of COVID-19 in Bangladesh is yet to come under control. Mills have ramped up steel production resulting in increasing demand for ferrous scrap. Deals reported are still in small quantities discouraging most sellers.
Steel prices have stabilized after mils raised finished steel price on high input costs. For ferrous scrap importers, high containerized freight charges and logistic challenges impacted buying sentiments.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Tuesday, settled at $550/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $1.25/mt. Deals for shredded from the UK/EU reported at index price amid an improvement in demand in small quantities.
Landed costs rose further in Bangladesh amid high freight and port charges.
On the New York to South Asia route, normalized weekly container freight rates inched up by $2.71/mt to $88.11/mt for Bangladesh. The same remained unchanged at $51.74/mt, and $47.01/mt for shipments to Pakistan and India, respectively.
Following softening of bulk prices in Turkey, Bangladeshi mills were targeting below $525-530/mt cfr Chattogram from the US west coast suppliers. Bids lagged by more than $10/mt from current offers.
The daily index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $516.43/mt cfr Chattogram, up $1.43/mt. The indexes for UK-origin and Australia-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) were unchanged at $510/mt and $520/mt cfr Chattogram, respectively, on Aug 17.
The daily Davis Index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America remained unchanged at $503/mt cfr Chattogram. Deals were reported at $505/mt cfr Chattogram while offers rose to $510/mt cfr Chattogram on Tuesday.
Prices for ship scrap equivalent to P&S at BDT50,500-51,000/mt ex-yards, up BDT500/mt. Rebar offers from large-scale mills rose by BDT1,000/mt to BDT73,000-74,000/mt ex-works. Billet offered at BDT61,500-62,000/mt ex-works, up BDT500/mt.
($1=BDT84.89)