Indian buyers stayed away from the imported scrap market because it was more expensive compared to domestic. The price gap between imported and domestic widened from INR 185/t ($2/t) in August to INR 2,885/t ($35/t) in January 2024. This was mainly because domestic generation and collection improved last year while issues related to the goods & services tax (GST) were also smoothened out at local market levels. Thus, Indian buyers were not willing to pay higher. Their prices averaged $417/t CFR west coast in August- December 2023 compared to Pakistan’s $424/t CFR and Bangladesh’s $435/t CFR.
