Offers for imported ferrous scrap in India jumped by $10-15/mt on Tuesday, ahead of Eid holidays in the UAE, Pakistan and Bangladesh markets. But buyers stayed away from these price levels. Eventually, mills could resume in the coming days. Although there is a wide price gap between imported and domestic material, the supply of the latter is insufficient to cater to the present demand, believe traders.
Offers for HMS surged in India to match the price levels which found acceptance in the other two subcontinental markets. The daily index for UAE-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) rose by $15/mt on Tuesday to $475/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. Offers also rose due to a shortage of containers and successive recovery in the rebar and domestic scrap prices in India. The UAE market is likely to close from July 17-25 for the Eid holidays, keeping fresh trading and loading activities halted.
Indian mills continued to stay away from imported shredded purchases. The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded on Tuesday, was up by $1.25/mt to settle at $540/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. Offers were above $540-545/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. Steel demand is still below steelmakers’ expectations. Mills anticipate scrap prices to fall by $8-10/mt after which they could return to the market.
But a continuous recovery in rebar, ingot, and domestic scrap prices has lifted overall sentiment for ferrous scrap.
The Davis Index for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) rose by $6/mt to $488.5/mt cfr Nhava Sheva. Bids of $450-455/mt cfr Nhava Sheva for HMS 1&2 (80:20) found no selling interest from the UAE, UK, and Australian sellers who are targeting offers of $490-500/mt cfr.
In the Alang shipbreaking market, melting scrap offers on Tuesday dropped by Rs300/mt to Rs34,700/mt ex-yards. In Mumbai, rebar prices on Tuesday rose by another Rs700/mt from Monday to Rs47,900/mt ex-works.
On Tuesday, Chinese steel futures for rebar and HRC showed mixed trends. Domestic billet prices were at CNY5,100/mt ex-Tangshan inclusive of VAT on Tuesday, after reaching CNY5,130/mt ex-works a day ago. Billet import prices in China are around $700/mt cfr, spreading optimism in Asian sellers. International iron ore prices with ferrous 62pc inched up to reach $218/mt cfr North China.
In the export market, expectations for billets were at $620-625/mt fob India. Indian mills have reportedly received orders for exports of 100,000mt billets, which could soon boost imported scrap trades.
Subcontinent
The daily Davis Index for containerized shredded settled at $545.06/mt cfr Indian subcontinent, up by $1.13/mt; while that for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) settled at $502.03/mt cfr Indian subcontinent, up by $2.66/mt from Monday. The container freight rates were largely stable this week.
($1=Rs74.47)