- Falling steel prices make Indian buyers wary
- Turkish mills cut scrap prices on weak demand
South Asia’s imported scrap market remained under pressure this past week, with sluggish buying activity across India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, while Turkiye’s continued price drops further dampened regional sentiment.
Indian buyers pulled back amid falling domestic steel prices, ample local scrap, and a weak rupee. Pakistan’s market showed little recovery post-Eid, with mills operating at reduced capacity and avoiding fresh bookings. In Bangladesh, financial constraints and subdued demand kept imports at minimal levels despite strong remittance inflows.
Meanwhile, Turkish mills continued cutting domestic scrap prices as demand for finished steel remained lacklustre.
UK-origin shredded scrap offers remained unchanged in India and Bangladesh while edging down by $4/tonne in Pakistan. US bulk HMS 80:20 offers to Turkiye also remained unchanged today.
Overview
India: India’s imported scrap market turned sluggish after an active start last week, as falling domestic steel prices, ample local scrap availability, and rising sponge iron intake dampened buying interest.
In the southern region, most buyers stayed on the sidelines, with key players having ample port inventories or are awaiting their own vessels. Deals were earlier concluded for Australian HMS at $362/t and Singapore HMS at $357/t, but buyers have now retreated from these levels.
Shredded scrap offers from the UK/Europe hovered at $390/t CFR Nhava Sheva, while buyers aimed for sub-$380/t, leading to limited trades.
Australian HMS 80:20 was booked at $362-363/t, and UK sheared HMS at $350-355/t CFR.
The weakening rupee, fears of Chinese steel dumping, and quiet port activity further weighed on sentiment, keeping the market largely inactive.
Pakistan: Pakistan’s imported scrap market stayed sluggish as falling Turkish scrap prices and weak Chinese finished steel offers kept buyers hesitant. UK/Europe shredded scrap was offered at $385-390/t CFR, but bids remained lower at $380-382/t, reflecting limited buying appetite.
Post-Eid, domestic steel demand showed little improvement, with mills operating at just 30-40% capacity and avoiding fresh bookings.
Rebar prices hovered at PKR 232,000-250,000/t, depending upon payment terms and sellers. Meanwhile, domestic scrap stood at PKR 138,000-140,000/t.
The overall sentiment stayed cautious, with soft demand and declining price trends pushing market participants to remain on the sidelines.
Bangladesh: Bangladesh’s imported scrap market remained quiet, with buyers cautious due to ongoing LC hurdles and limited forex despite record remittances and robust March exports. Mills leaned towards domestic scrap, avoiding fresh imports amid financial uncertainty.
Shredded scrap from Australia/New Zealand was offered at $390-392/t CFR, but bids lagged at $385/t. Australian HMS 90:10 saw sparse trades at $371-372/t against offers of $385/t, while Japanese rebar bundles were offered at $395/t, with past bookings at $390-392/t.
Bulk scrap offers slipped further, with Japanese H2 down $5/t w-o-w to $365/t CFR, and Singapore-origin HMS 80:20 offered at $375/t CFR.
Overall sentiment stayed bearish, weighed down by HKC concerns, inflation, and political instability.
Turkiye: The Turkish imported scrap market continued to weaken, US-origin HMS 80:20 bulk was assessed at $358/t CFR stable with bearish sentiment. Some domestic mills further reduced domestic scrap purchase prices, showing subdued finished steel demand.
Oyak group mills, Isdemir and Erdemir, cut their scrap purchase prices by TRY 250/t ($6/t) last weekend.
Isdemir’s domestic scrap rate dropped to TRY 13,100/t ($345/t), and extra grade to TRY 13,050/t. Erdemir revised its prices to TRY 13,250/t for domestic scrap and TRY 13,245/t for extra grade, marking a $14/t weekly decline.
Smaller mills like Asil Celik also lowered prices, with DKP at TRY 13,835/t and extra grade at TRY 13,385/t.
Market participants are now watching key mills like Habas, Toscelik, ICDAS, and IDC for price signals that could influence the broader domestic scrap trend in the coming days.
Price assessments
India: UK-origin shredded indicatives were assessed unchanged d-o-d at $385/t CFR Nhava Sheva.
Pakistan: UK-origin shredded indicatives stood at $382/t CFR Qasim, decreasing by $4/t d-o-d.
Bangladesh: UK-origin shredded indicatives stood stable d-o-d at $390/t CFR Chattogram.
Turkiye: US-origin HMS (80:20) bulk scrap prices were assessed unchanged d-o-d at $358/t CFR Turkiye.
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