Bangladeshi containerized ferrous scrap buyers went into a wait-and-watch mode as offers reached a five-month high. Eid-al-Adha holidays kept many traders away from the market. Limited availability of workforce has cut production hours for small furnaces in the country. Additionally, domestic steel demand also remained stagnated, challenged by heavy rains and floods. Against this backdrop, present offer levels were unviable for mills.
The Davis Index for containerized shredded, Friday, settled at $311.25/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $2.50/mt from Thursday and $11.25/mt from the prior week. On Friday, offers for containerized shredded from the UK were heard at $315-320/mt cfr Chattogram. Most Dhaka-based mills were reluctant to book material at these levels.
A few trades for Brazil and New Zealand- origin shredded were at $300-305/mt cfr Chattogram.
Sponge iron trades were reported at $275-280/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $5/mt from the prior week.
The daily index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $296.25/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $1.25/mt from Thursday and by $8.12/mt from a week ago, with trades at $295-300/mt cfr Chattogram.
The Davis Index for Latin American HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $289.5/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $0.21/mt from Thursday and by $9.86/mt from the prior Friday. Offers for #1 HMS from Brazil and Chile were at $295/mt cfr Chattogram with bids still at $285-290/mt cfr Chattogram. Brazilian suppliers were unwilling to lower their offers as steelmakers in their home country are paying well for domestic scrap. The ongoing export ban for scrap in South Africa and UAE has also supported these suppliers.
The Davis Index for busheling settled at $323/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $8/mt from the day prior week. P&S from South America and Australia was offered at $310-315/mt cfr Chattogram with the weekly index for the grade at $308/mt cfr, up by $8/mt from a week ago.
The Davis Index for Australian HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $288/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $8/mt from the prior week. Only a small tonnage of #1 HMS from Australia and Brazil traded at $288-290/mt cfr Chattogram.
Finished and semi-finished steel
The weekly index for domestic billet settled unchanged at BDT38,500/mt ($454/mt) ex-works Chattogram. Weak end-user demand amid heavy monsoons and the resulting floods in many regions kept trades limited.
Major steelmakers in Chattogram kept their rebar offers firm despite weak demand. Rebar was offered at BDT55,500-56,000/mt ex-Chattogram on high input costs. Sales by these mills remain relatively better compared to those by small-scale steelmakers.
The weekly Davis Index for rebar from medium steelmakers settled at BDT53,000/mt ex-producer, up by BDT500/mt. Rebar was offered at BDT49,500-50,000/mt ex-plant, up by BDT500/mt from the prior week.
Domestic and shipbreaking scrap
The Davis Index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at BDT26,000/mt inclusive of local taxes, ex-yard Chattogram, up by BDT2,000/mt from the prior week.
The Davis Index for shipbreaking scrap equivalent to P&S settled at BDT27,000/mt ex-yard, up by BDT2,000/mt from the prior week. Scrapped ship purchase prices have increased by $15-20/ldt from the prior week, pushing domestic scrap prices upwards.
($1=BDT83.95)