South Asian scrap importers are active for bulk scrap bookings on reduced container availability
Bulk scrap prices to South Asia have come down in a couple of deep-sea cargoes bookings getting concluded to Bangladesh at the closing of last week.
In the latest bookings, a prominent Steelmaker based in Chittagong, booked 2 bulk vessels from 2 different major recyclers based in USA, for early April shipments. One of the bookings included a 32,000 MT bulk cargo from a US (west coast) supplier, comprising of Shredded scrap in entirety, at USD 300/MT CFR Chittagong.
On the other hand, the second booking comprised of a mixed cargo consisting of Shredded scrap at USD 295/MT and and HMS grade USD 290/MT CFR respectively, from another major US supplier.
The prices have come down considerably in the said bookings, as earlier in the last week, bulk scrap booking to Pakistan and India each, were reportedly confirmed at USD 306/MT CFR Qasim and USD 310/MT CFR Kandla respectively.
Prior to this, a Bangladesh mill had booked a 32,000 MT mixed cargo at around last week of Jan’20, at USD 310/MT for Shredded and USD 315/MT for Bonus, CFR Chittagong basis.
The continued container shortage in the global market, induced by corona virus outbreak leading to many containers getting stuck in China/ or trans-shipment stage, has led to a rise in container freight prices as well as freight time for container bookings from US, Europe, Australia etc.
This container shortage and its impact on price and freight time is likely to push South Asian markets to go for more bulk cargo bookings in the coming weeks, with market sources confiding that Bangladesh mills are negotiating for further bookings, while India and even Pakistan could book another round of Bulk cargoes soon.
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