With the rise in Covid infections, the Bangladesh government has decided to extend the lockdown till 10 Aug’21. Factories and transport facilities will likely resume production from 11 Aug’21, following the Covid safety protocols, sources told SteelMint.
Despite the lockdown, a couple of bulk scrap bookings were heard in the market from buyers who were largely looking for urgent restocking, sources said. Two bulk cargoes were heard to have been booked recently, prior to the global price drop following decline in Turkey’s scrap prices.
Majority of the steel mills, with their operations suspended, are not active in booking scrap cargoes presently.
Recent bulk deals
- A renowned US-based scrap supplier sold a bulk scrap cargo to Bangladesh for end-Aug-early Sept’21 shipments. The cargo consists of 20,000 tonnes (t) of shredded and 10,000 t of HMS 1&2 (80:20). The deal was unconfirmed till the time of publishing this report. The price range was heard to be at around $530-545/t CFR Chittagong levels.
- Another deal was heard concluded from Australia for around 25,000 t of composite cargo at around $505-510/t CFR.
Container scrap market subdued: The containerised scrap market remained sluggish this week too while imported scrap prices remained unchanged. The discrepancies in bids and offers have kept market activities slow.
- Fresh offers for shredded were heard at around $555-560/t CFR Chittagong levels.
- UK-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) are being quoted at $510-515/t CFR levels. Australian suppliers kept HMS offers at $515-520/t CFR levels.
Domestic market bearish on extended lockdown: A few mills continued production in limited volumes as they have oxygen furnace, market sources informed SteelMint. However, with dull end-user activities, trade continued to remain subdued.
Meanwhile, major mills have kept their rebar prices unchanged at BDT 71,000-72,000/t exw-Chittagong m-o-m. Dhaka-based rebar prices too remained unchanged at BDT 67,000-68,000/t exw.
Leave a Reply