Bangladesh continued to book containers of HMS and shredded amid tightening supply for scrap, both domestically and internationally. Steel trading, however, is still tepid due to the ongoing rains in many regions of the country. Exporters found it more lucrative to sell in Pakistan and India, where demand is picking up faster.
The daily Davis Index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America, Wednesday, rose by $1/mt to $515/mt cfr Chattogram. Deals for HMS 1&2 (80:20) concluded at $515-520/mt cfr Chattogram. Offers for #1 HMS were at $520-530/mt cfr Chattogram.
On Wednesday, the index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) was at $523.75/mt cfr Chattogram. A few offers were even at $530-535/mt cfr Chattogram for HMS 1&2 (80:20). Traders could speed up their negotiations before a seasonal slowdown weighs down prices. A gradual recovery in HMS trades kept the indexes for HMS 1&2 (80:20) of UK-origin and Australia-origin unchanged at $518/mt and $523/mt cfr Chattogram, respectively.
Following softening cues from Turkish markets, buyers lowered bids. The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded dropped by $2.92/mt to settle at $547.5/mt cfr Chattogram on Wednesday. A few deals for shredded from the UK were reported at $545-550/mt cfr Chattogram, despite offers of $555-565/mt cfr Chattogram.
For P&S, Bangladeshi mills kept bids at $555-560/mt cfr Chattogram. But most yards resisted these price levels on tight supply and elevated freight rates. NTP bundles traded at $548-550/mt cfr Chattogram early this week.
Following elevated imported scrap offers, offers for domestic ship scrap equivalent to P&S rose BDT1,000/mt to BDT48,000-48,500/mt ex-yards. Ship recyclers targeted prices of BDT49,500-50,000/mt ex-yards on Wednesday, with scrapped imported vessel offers for shipbreakers at $560-570/mt cfr Chattogram.
Shipbreaking plate offers were flat at BDT53,500-54,000/mt ex- yards Chattogram. Several small-scale mills were busy closing their books ahead of the fiscal year-end. Steelmakers have decided to sell off inventories amid a bearish monsoon outlook.
For large-scale steelmakers, deals continued to be in the range of BDT71,000-72,000/mt ex-works. Despite monsoons weighing down steel sales, many are hoping for another round of price hikes due to firm imported scrap offers.
($1=BDT84.8)