Alang, the world’s one of the largest ship breaking yards, is currently facing sharp decline in ship breaking prices amidst low-priced prime steel from China and dwindling demand.
In the month of Oct’15, ship breaking prices fell by INR 1,000-1,200/MT M-o-M in domestic market. While, global scrap prices fell by USD 15/MT in the same duration.
Number of ships for demolition falls
Indian currency, Rupee’s devaluation against USD has reduced ship breakers’ global competitiveness in bidding for ship break contracts. In today’s trade, INR has touched at 64.93 against USD.
As a result, the numbers of ships arriving at Alang for demolition have fallen from 40-45 a month in 2011 to 15-20 a month in 2015. Moreover, ship breaking yards are not trying to take risk, viewing at fluctuating Rupee.
Ships arrival for recycling
| Month | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| Jan’15 | 30 | 34 | 29 | 19 | 19 |
| Feb’15 | 45 | 25 | 19 | 21 | 21 |
| Mar’15 | 49 | 27 | 30 | 27 | 27 |
| Apr’15 | 20 | 48 | 31 | 31 | 14 |
| May’15 | 40 | 27 | 34 | 31 | 17 |
| Jun’15 | 34 | 22 | 21 | 30 | 13 |
| Jul’15 | 31 | 24 | 27 | 32 | 13 |
| Aug’15 | 33 | 16 | 17 | 21 | 9 |
| Sep’15 | 31 | 34 | 15 | 12 | 18 |
| Oct’15 | 28 | 40 | 25 | 16 | – |
| Nov’15 | 37 | 55 | 16 | 17 | – |
| Dec’15 | 36 | 42 | 34 | 18 | – |
| Total | 414 | 394 | 298 | 275 | 151 |
From the above table it can be inferred that in current year, the lowest number of ships had arrived in Aug’15, which has almost doubled in Sept’15 as market regained the momentum after buyers in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan came back from Eid holidays.
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