Bangladeshi mills continued buying containerized scrap, albeit in limited volumes. Mills looked for competitively priced material to keep a check on their input costs. Steel prices have started to recover gradually. But market participants are unsure of the prices sustaining.
The daily Dais Index for containerized shredded, Tuesday, settled at $488.25/mt cfr Chattogram, unchanged from Monday. Traders were unwilling to offer shredded below $490-495/mt cfr Chattogram on Tuesday.
Container availability remains a challenge. The freight rate from Australia has doubled making imports from the region unviable.
Some mills could resume negotiations to restock seaborne scrap before prices move up further. Japanese suppliers continued to keep offers firm amid increased inquiries from the Chinese buyers. Japanese #2 HMS at was $480-490/mt cfr Chattogram.
On Tuesday, the Chinese domestic daily spot billet price index rose by CNY20/mt to settle at CNY4,280/mt ($661/mt) ex-Tangshan including VAT. Chinese mills received billet import offers at $600-610/mt cfr China.
The index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Latin America on Tuesday settled at $458/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $4/mt. Traders bought containers of HMS 1&2 (90:10) at $455-460/mt cfr Chattogram, despite offers above $460-465/mt cfr Chattogram.
The daily Davis Index for US-origin containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $462.5/mt cfr Chattogram, up by $2.5/mt. Indian Sponge iron export offers were rangebound between $405-410/mt cfr Benapole or $415-420/mt cfr Chattogram.
Domestic steel prices remain elevated
On short supply, ship scrap equivalent to P&S were unchanged at BDT43,500-44,000/mt ex-yards. Ship plates of 16mm size traded at BDT49,500/mt ex-yards with some offers even at BDT50,000-50,500/mt ex-yards on Tuesday. Supply from shipbreaking activities is expected to increase more with most yards flooded with vessels. These vessels were earlier delayed due to congestions at transhipments ports.
Domestic billet prices remained unchanged at BDT54,000-54,500/mt ex-works Chattogram. Mills are likely to offer billets above BDT56,500-57,000/mt ex-works as they tried to pass off a partial rise in input cost to end-users.
Large steelmakers kept rebar prices at BDT67,500-68,000/mt ex-works. Mills canceled discounts amid rising imported scrap prices. Rebar from medium-scale mills in Dhaka was offered in the range BDT63,500-64,000/mt ex-works. Small-scale mills offered rebar above BDT58,000-59,000/mt ex-works. Trades for rebar remain slow.
($1=BDT84.72)