South Asia: Ferrous scrap market continues to remains slow

The ferrous scrap market in South Asia witnessed mixed trends and challenges across the three countries India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

In India, there was a downtrend in the market due to lack of demand. It happened because buyers were hesitant to purchase at current prices. The market also faced fluctuations in prices due to year-end sales issues and a dull finished steel market.

In Bangladesh, the market remained slow with some deals struck at lower prices. However, buyers were not going for material from regular destinations such as Europe and the US. Instead, they preffered to opt for Hong Kong for cost-effectiveness. Shipbreaking sales also decreased due to the current climate and Ramadan holidays, leading to fall in prices.

The Pakistani ferrous scrap market showed no response in trade due to the current political turmoil, which is not allowing the country to bounce back strongly in trade after the recent currency crisis.

Lastly, in Turkiye, the import scrap market has been quiet, with negative sentiment among market players due to lack of movement in the long steel export market. Higher price levels for rebars could not find buyers. Sellers waited for demand to materialise. Furthermore, the flat steel market experienced downward pressure from import offers. Overall, it seemed that the ferrous scrap market in South Asia faced several challenges, including political instability, lack of demand, and fluctuations in prices d-o-d.

• INR remained stable against USD at 82.18 with a 0.42% change from yesterday’s closing.
• PKR remained stable against USD at 282.69 with a 0.37% change from the last closing.
• BDT remained largely unchanged at 105.03 with a 0.07% change from yesterday’s closing.

Price assessments

• Europe-origin shredded scrap offers into India stood at $458/t CFR Nhava Sheva, slightly down by $10/t d-o-d.
• UK-origin shredded scrap prices in Bangladesh stood at $505/t CFR Chattogram, down by $5/t from last offers.
• UK-origin shredded scrap prices in Pakistan stood at $478/t CFR Qasim, down by $5/t from previous offers.