Indian steel mills are returning to the market following firm global cues. Buyers are restocking ahead of the Diwali festival holidays in India. Amid higher imported scrap prices mills are preferring domestic scrap which is available at a lower price and with faster delivery times.
In Turkey, mills resumed bulk bookings for ferrous scrap at $2-3/mt higher than earlier deals. Following global cues in the bulk market, offers for containerised scrap moved up further on Tuesday.
The Davis Index for containerized shredded on Tuesday settled at $313/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, up $2.43/mt from Monday. Offers for UK-origin shredded were at $312-315/mt cfr Nhava Sheva on Tuesday, but there was very limited buying interest in the market. Mills remained hesitant to book large volumes despite a gradual recovery in production rates. There is still a lot of uncertainty looming in the global markets, and most buyers are not confident of booking long-duration cargoes.
“A few buyers have resumed active enquiries and are getting impatient. Offers this week are inching up while buyers have remained confused. Buyers now will have to enter the market with higher bids than last week if they want to procure material. Supplies are expected to remain tight in November as December has been traditionally a shorter month,” said a leading trader.
End-user demand remains a concern for most secondary mills who are still working at 50-60pc capacities. Weaker export demand than in September has also reduced scrap trades.
The Davis Index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from UAE, Tuesday, settled at $300/mt cfr Nhava Sheva, up by $2/mt from Monday, gaining almost $10/mt from a week earlier. A few trades for containerized #1 HMS from Dubai were heard at above $305/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. Offers stayed at $305-308/mt cfr Nhava Sheva against bids of $300/mt cfr Nhava Sheva.
Domestic billet prices have remained under pressure impacting ferrous scrap bookings. In the export markets, offers for billets were heard at $430-435/mt fob, equivalent to $445-450/mt cfr SE Asia have failed to materialise so far. In the bulk markets, offers for HMS 1&2 (80:20) were still in the range of $310-315/mt cfr Kandla, however, buyers refused to book materials at such high levels.
Subcontinent
Higher offers kept subcontinent indexes up. The Davis Index for containerized shredded, Tuesday, settled at $306.35/mt cfr India subcontinent, up by $1.53/mt from Monday. The Davis Index for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $293.84/mt cfr India subcontinent, up by $2.56/mt from Monday.
($1=Rs73.32)