Imported scrap trades to Pakistan have slowed down this week, amid less number of offers available from global suppliers, as the market prepares to go for winter vacation in a few days. Offers to Pakistan from European origins moved up significantly while US origin offers inched up slightly. Local steel prices remained stable with market expecting price hike in the coming few weeks.
SteelMint’s assessment for containerized Shredded 211 scrap from UK/Europe surged up sharply to around USD 309-310/MT, CFR Qasim, climbing up by around USD 8-10/MT against last week,on severely limited material availability. On the other hand, many yards in USA are offering at USD 305-306/MT CFR, up by USD 5-6/MT W-o-W.
Few bookings from USA were concluded in the said price range, while buying from Europe remained quite slow, except for 2-3 odd deals of smaller quantity of around 500 MT.
Trades for HMS scrap was reported to be average this week, with few bookings of UAE origin HMS 1 super (no ci gi) reported at around USD 280/MT CFR Qasim, while higher quality HMS melting (sarya) sold at USD 289/MT CFR. UAE origin HMS 1 offers remain in the range of USD 280-285/MT, while no major HMS offers from other origins were reported.
Domestic steel market sentiments remain stable – Due to ongoing winter months and gas load shedding, many small and medium mills have cut their steel production considerably, while few others have briefly stopped operations. This has resulted in a decline in local scrap prices on low demand, as well as pulled down the Bala billet offers.
Finished steel prices have remained stable for yet another week, however market sources predicted that from the beginning of Jan’20, the prices will begin to rise as the demand improves, with mills already suffering from low margins due to narrow scrap to Rebar spread.
In the northern region, rebar’s average offer prices were reported at around PKR 104,000-105,000/MT, ex-works (USD 671-678), while southern (Karachi region) steel mills are offering at PKR 105-106,000/MT (USD 678-684) ex-works.
| Particularar (Average Offer Prices) | 17-Dec’19 | Last Assessment on 10-Dec’19 | Change W-o-W |
| PKR/MT | PKR/MT | PKR | |
| Local Scrap (Equivalent to Shredded) | 63000 | 64500 | -1500 |
| Bala (Local Billet) | 80000 | 82500 | -2500 |
| CC Billet (Grade 40) | 88000 | 88000 | 0 |
| CC Billet (Grade 60) | 89000 | 89000 | 0 |
| Deformed bar (G-60), Ex-Punjab/KPK | 104,000-105000 | 104,000-105000 | 0 |
| Deformed bar (G-60), Ex-Sindh (Karachi) | 105,000-106,000 | 105,000-106,000 | 0 |
Source: SteelMint Research
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