South Asia’s ship-breaking market saw a few deals this week, although lower than previous week. The Bangladesh market has stunned everyone with a plethora deals on pent-up demand and even deals on units that have received L/C clearances.
India has secured a few HKC green sales this year, yet it is not competing with a rampant Chattogram market. So it’s now a case of assuring L/Cs are in order before committing vessels at reasonable levels once more.
Pakistan remains quiet for another week, unable to secure suitable L/C finance to import vessels over the last few weeks.
The Turkish market continues to tighten, with import and steel plate prices rising this week; vessel prices rose by $30/t.
India’s prices remain stable
Despite the Alang market’s exceptional performance this year, local purchasers have been trying to stay up with lately-dominant Bangladesh over the last few weeks, and as a result, have lost numerous quality units.
On the domestic front, the INR is still trading in the 82.71 range as of the first half on 28 February remaining largely stable compared to the previous week, which was around INR 82.86 against the USD.
The total tonnage at Alang Port last week was 53,515 LDT.
Bangladesh back
The news over the previous several weeks has centred around Bangladesh’s remarkable comeback, with some healthy trades of $600/LDT and finding means to open L/Cs and import vessels yet again.
The Bangladeshi Taka is slowly recovering from BDT 106.23 in the previous week to BDT 105.48 against the USD during the first half of the trading session.
The total tonnage reported last week at Chattogram Port was 42,589 LDT.
Pakistan’s persisting L/C issue
For the better part of 2022 Gadani recyclers have mainly remained stranded without being able to open effective L/Cs, and prices remain far from competitive compared with subcontinental neighbours, as per GMS.
The Pakistani currency recovered slightly to PKR 261.37 during the trading session on 28 February from PKR 262.47 in the previous week.
The total tonnage at Gadani Port last week was nil.
Prices in $/LDT
Source: SteelMint Research
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