Shipbreaking scrap prices rose on Monday amid demand from local rolling mills. Lockdown restrictions have enabled smooth movement of material from yards to the local market.
The daily Davis Index for HMS attachments and Melting rose by Rs600/mt ($8.24/mt) each to Rs38,400/mt and Rs37,400/mt ex-Alang respectively.
Shortage of HKC compliant vessels continued which created a supply crunch and kept the prices firm for re-rolling scrap. The daily Davis Index for 8Ani rose by Rs400/mt to Rs41,700/mt ex-Alang and the index for 10Ani rose by Rs500/mt to Rs42,300/mt ex-Alang.
Mills are focusing aggressively on export markets and waiting for demand from the domestic end-users to pick up. The daily Davis Index for 14Ani rose by Rs700/mt ex-Alang and the index for 12Ani followed a similar trend and settled at Rs42,500/mt ex-Alang.
Ship plates prices also rose amid supply crunch and the index for 1kg plates rose by Rs700/mt to Rs38,700/mt ex-Alang.
Market participants are expecting ferrous scrap prices to improve in the near term as domestic finished steel prices are still 20-25pc lower than the international prices and steelmakers have room to increase their prices further.
($1=Rs72.81)