Bangladesh’s imported scrap market witnessed a recovery in trade activities and a few deals for containerised and bulk scrap were seen. Despite the LC issue and continuous price hike, buyers are booking for April and May bookings, SteelMint learnt from sources.
An Australian bulk cargo comprising mixed material was heard booked at the start of this week. The cargo comprised 14,000 t of bonus sold at $498/t, 13,000 t of shredded sold at $488/t and 3,000t of HMS which was sold at $478/t CFR Chittagong.
Interestingly, this is the second bulk booking this year after the first in January.
US west coast bulk HMS offers were at $495/t CFR Chittagong. However, buyers showed less interest due to the disparity between bids and offers.
Most exporters kept their offers high on active participation by Turkish steel producers to maintain a steady supply of finished steel products following the country’s unwanted disaster on 6 February.
Container prices up
A few bookings in containers were recorded.
- Around 2,000 t containerised, Brazilian HMS (80:20) was sold at $465/t CFR Chittagong
- Another 1,000 t of PNS was sold at $510/t CFR and HMS bundles at $460/t CFR were booked from Hong Kong.
- Fresh offers for UK-origin shredded were at $500-505/t CFR Chittagong, up $5/t w-o-w.
Domestic market under pressure
Considering the limited availability of funds, steel mills are under pressure and bound to increase finished steel prices amid higher costs of production fuelled by increased electricity prices.
SteelMint’s assessment for domestic rebar prices stand at BDT 96,000-98,000/t ($/t) exw-Chittagong, up BDT 2,000/t w-o-w. Mills in Dhaka have followed suit, increasing their rebar offers by BDT 1,000-2,000/t to BDT 92,000-93,000/t ($/t).
Local ship-breaking scrap prices remained at BDT 68,000-70,000/t ($635-654/t) ex-yard Chittagong.
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