Bangladesh’s ferrous scrap import market witnessed tight liquidity with certain Letters of Credit (LCs) opening restrictions in the last few months which made buyers almost quiet, and only sporadic contracts for small tonnages were reportedly concluded.
However, two bulk cargoes were booked a week back from the US and Australia at $455/t and $445/t, CFR.
Recently, the central bank has issued a slight relief of a certain amount of one million dollars to support the steel industry to improve their pipeline and import raw materials.
- Fresh offers from USA-origin HMS are heard at $450-455/t, CFR Chattogram.
- Indicative for Japanese were at $460/t levels. However, buyers are less interested in booking Japanese materials.
Interestingly, prices have increased significantly after the Kanto Tetsugen scrap export tender which concluded on 12 January, 2022. A total of 11,000 t of scrap was awarded, with the average price at around JPY 50,932/t ($387/t) FAS for H2 scrap, SteelMint learnt from sources.
Bid prices increased by JPY 3,364/t ($26/t) m-o-m compared to bids in December. Prices have rebounded after two consecutive rounds of decline in the last two months.
Containers’ trade remains lull
Witnessing a recent decline in recently concluded Turkish deals, imported scrap prices to Bangladesh are slightly down. However, trade remained absent due to tight money rotation.
Further, mini-mills are under pressure to shut down their furnaces as it is tough to maintain productivity with inadequate raw material sourcing and can avoid further losses.
Fresh containerised offers for UK-origin shredded scrap are at $470-475/t CFR.
The domestic market remained subdued
Domestic market sentiments more or less remained unchanged. The rebars prices were at BDT 92,000/t ($884/t) exw. Meanwhile, local shipbreaking scrap prices continued to move up due to material shortages. Mills now procure domestic material for immediate delivery and to avoid dependency on imported ferrous scrap.
SteelMint assessed domestic rebars prices at BDT 92,000-93,000/t ($884-894/t) exw-Chattogram. Dhaka-based mills have kept their rebars offers unchanged for the seventh consecutive week at BDT 85,000/t ($817/t). Prices are stable w-o-w.
Currently, local scrap is being traded at BDT 64,000/t ($615/t) ex-yard, unchanged w-o-w.
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