Pakistan: Imported scrap trades turn slow on the bid-offer standoff

Pakistan’s scrap buying activities which had picked up last week, have comparatively slowed down. Disparity between bids and offers have limited trades, highlighted market sources. Also, the domestic finished steel market sentiments have remained dull from the last few weeks. SteelMint’s assessment for Shredded 211 scrap in containers from UK/Europe is at $312/t CFR Qasim, largely stable against last week.

Containerized scrap offers-

• Suppliers are quoting shredded (in containers) in the range of $312-315/t CFR Qasim from UK/Europe. Likewise, offers for Shredded 211 from the USA are hovering at $315/t CFR levels.
• Few deals have been concluded for shredded at around $310-312/t CFR Qasim basis.
• Middle-east origin HMS 1 is being offered at $300/t CFR Qasim.

“Since yesterday, the offers have not been clear as suppliers want to achieve $314-315/t level for containerized Shredded, but they are unable to get it due to low price ideas from buyers’ end. Thus apparently, it looks like that would accept $312/t level for UK/EU origin shredded”, a Pakistan based trader shared.

Domestic steel market overview – Domestic mega steel projects and metropolitan construction projects are running at low pace due to shortage of funds received from government, which has kept finished steel sentiments low, highlighted a Pakistan based source. Domestic steel prices more-or-less remained the same as last week as demand for finished steel is still depressed due to slow construction activities. Nevertheless, to maintain the maximum cash flow, steel mills keep their rates on the lower side in the last ten days to clear their electricity bills and other dues.

Pakistan domestic steel prices as on 29th Sep’20

Recent market updates – Agha Steel Industries is going to sell 100,000 t of low-carbon billets worth approximately PKR 10.5 billion per annum to Horizon Steel, according to a press release issued here on Monday. In this regard, the two companies on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that ensures Agha Steel will supply the intermediate steel product used as a raw material by the downstream steel industry.