Bangladesh: Major mills continue bulk bookings, container market quiet

Major Bangladeshi mills continued bulk bookings for yet another week. However, demand from the downstream sector is yet to pick up. Industry participants believe that the market will pick up in September which is considered a favourable season for construction activities.

Two Chittagong-based mills booked bulk cargoes to replenish their inventory for the upcoming winter season.

Confirmed deals and offers

• Around 32,000 t US-origin, mixed scrap cargo was heard booked. The cargo comprising 18,000 t of HMS and 4,000 t of shredded was booked at $455/t and $460/t CFR Chittagong, respectively, SteelMint learnt from sources.
• In another deal, a total of 34,000 t of Russian bulk cargo was booked. The cargo contained 27,000 t of HMS and 7,000 t of shredded which were booked at $439/t and $449/t CFR Chittagong respectively.
• Indicative offers for US-origin bulk HMS remained unchanged at $460/t, considering the recent uptick in Turkish sales.
• However, buyers’ price ideas hovered around $440-450/t CFR Bangladesh.

In contrast, no firm offers were received for Japanese H2 material, while indicative offers were recorded at around $415/t CFR.

Container market silent

The country’s containerised imported scrap market remained mostly quiet throughout the month. Increased scrap offers, volatile currency exchange rates, power cuts, LC restrictions and other issues impacted imported scrap trades.

Additionally, heavy rainfall in the country led to floods in many areas which blocked domestic transportation, construction activities and the availability of labour in the mills.

Recent offers

• Fresh offers of UK-origin shredded are heard at $510/t CFR, down $10/t w-o-w.
• UK-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) is offered at $480-490/t CFR.

“Bangladesh mills are not active due to extremely tight availability of USD for LC opening purposes. So, mills have cut down purchases until the currency situation eases,” said a source.

Rebar prices unchanged

Bangladeshi mills kept rebar offers unchanged after pushing prices up by around BDT 2,000/t ($20/t) last week on restocking demand.

• SteelMint’s assessment for domestic rebar prices stood at BDT 90,000-92,000/t ($947-967/t) exw-Chittagong, unchanged w-o-w.
• Secondary mills in Dhaka are quoting rebar at BDT 88,000/t ($925/t), unchanged w-o-w.

Outlook: Secondary mills will likely stay away from the market for the time being as the domestic market is yet to pick up.