In conversation with market participants, SteelMint learned that imported scrap trade activities remained supported with steel mills procuring stock for August and September production, while prices remained mostly in line with last week. Few sources reported that with sufficient inventories stored with the recent arrival of bulk vessels, imports could slow down slightly in coming days. Meanwhile domestic market is expected to remain slow for a few weeks until demand improves from the next month.
SteelMint’s assessment for containerized Shredded scrap from UK, Europe and USA stands at USD 328-333/MT CFR Chittagong, marginally down in comparison to last week, with quite a few deals being reported in this range. A leading supplier from UK was reported to be offering at a premium of USD 3-5/MT however buying interest remained at lower levels of USD 325-327/MT, CFR. Last week, 2 bulk cargos for ferrous scrap were reportedly booked from USA and Japan by leading mills in Bangladesh.
Decent trades for Containerized HMS were reported this week with deals for HMS 1 of Brazilian and Chile origin concluding at around 323-325/MT, CFR Chittagong for late August and early September delivery, in similar range as last week. Few suppliers offered inferior quality HMS 1&2 from other origins at USD 310-313/MT, CFR, while trades for P&S scrap in limited quantity were also concluded at USD 330-335/MT CFR, while not many inquiries European HMS were reported.
Domestic sentiments likely to boost by next month – Domestic market is slowly observing improvement in terms of finished steel demand, however steelmakers anticipate another month for sales to be in full swing. For most major mills, the price hike of finished steel on the account of recent tax alterations will be seen from August onwards, as the process for implementation of the recently imposed advance tax might stretch till the month-end.
Amid a persisting volatile market for local scrap, shipyard scrap prices inched down against last week, as offers for yard scrap currently stand at around BDT 34,500-35,000/MT (USD 408-414), down by around BDT 500/MT against last week. Local HMS (80:20) of lower grade was reported at around BDT 31,500-32,000/MT (USD 373-379) while trades for LMS bundles were heard at around BDT 28,500-29,000/MT.
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