Pakistan Imported Scrap Prices Weaken on Limited Trades

Imported scrap offers to Pakistan moved marginally down this week after hitting nearly 6-month high by the closing of last week. Owing to slight correction in global prices, SteelMint learned  that buying remained slow in Pakistan with limited inquiries from mills, putting suppliers under pressure to sell some material.

SteelMint’s assessment for containerized shredded 211 scraps from UK/Europe now stands in the range of USD 315-317/MT, CFR Qasim, down by around USD 3-5/MT against closing last week, with few bookings from UK being concluded at USD 315/MT CFR in the last 2 days.

However, offers from Central Europe and Eastern Europe origins dropped further to USD 310-312/MT CFR range, with few bookings of Shredded from Latvia, Germany and Belgium origins getting concluded at USD 310/MT CFR. Major bookings by Turkish mills will give a definite direction to the global price trend.

“Many buyers are anticipating a further price correction in the coming days and holding back for make larger bookings” shared a Pakistan based source.

UAE origin HMS offers too moved down on a weekly basis, with HMS 1 super (no ci gi) being offered at around USD 305-310/MT CFR amid slow trades. UK HMS 1&2 (80:20) was offered at USD 291-295/MT CFR with no trades reported.

Domestic rebar prices move up slightly – Although some improvement was witnessed in the sales of finished steel, prompting mills to slightly raise their offers, also supported by the end of goods & transport strike, however market awaits winters and rainfall to subside before demand reaches full potential.

Deformed bar prices inched up by PKR 500/MT on a weekly basis, while local scrap and billet prices remained flat. In the northern region, rebar’s average offer prices were reported at around PKR 105,000-106,000/MT, ex-works (USD 678-684), while southern (Karachi region) steel mills are offering at PKR 107,000/MT (USD 690) ex-works.