In Bangladesh, trades for finished steel and domestic ferrous scrap have remained closed amid the COVID-19-related lockdown until Aug 5. After a week’s holiday for Eid-al-adha trades were expected to resume gradually this week. However, a strict lockdown with most offices, industries and factories either closed or operating with a limited workforce dampened sentiment.
In Bangladesh, domestic steel prices are unchanged amid a near halt in trading. Labours are yet to return from the Eid holidays and steel production is expected to take a longer time for recovery. Although steelmakers are eyeing a price hike, they failed to achieve sales at higher prices.
The weekly index for ship scrap equivalent to P&S settled at BDT49,250/mt ($580.79/mt) ex-yards, up BDT250/mt. A sharp rise in ship vessels prices, which hit $600/ldt forced recyclers to offer domestic rolling and melting scrap at higher prices. The weekly index for domestic HMS 1&2 (80:20) was at BDT46,000/mt ex-yards Chattogram, unchanged on Friday.
The weekly index for rebar from large-scale mills Friday unchanged at BDT71,500/mt ex-works. The weekly Davis Indexes for rebar by medium-scale and small-scale mills are unchanged at BDT66,250/mt and BDT61,000/mt ex-works, respectively.
Only some large-scale mills like AKS and GPH are operating and continue to inquire for imported scrap. While scrap inventories are high at most mills, including BSRM, resulting in low to no buying interest.
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded, Friday, settled at $550/mt cfr Chattogram. Deals for the Australia/US-origin shredded concluded at $550/mt cfr Chattogram in the second half of the week after small quantities traded at $555-560/mt cfr early week.
Most mills stayed away from purchases amid a lack of liquidity, piled up inventories and halted finished steel sales during the lockdown.
The daily index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $526.25/mt cfr Chattogram. From prior Friday, the index dropped $3.75/mt. While the indexes for UK-origin and Australia-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) dropped $2/mt and $3/mt, to settle at $515/mt and $523/mt cfr Chattogram, respectively.
The daily Davis Index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America, Friday, unchanged at $510/mt cfr Chattogram. The index, however, dropped by $5/mt from prior Friday. Except for a few government-funded construction projects, steel-consuming activities remain stalled and could take at least until mid-August to normalize.
($1=BDT84.79)