Global scrap market observed mixed sentiments this week. Turkey market remained quiet this week with no major bookings on dull steel demand, while bids inched down. Offers to South Asia slightly increased this week, with Bangladesh showing decent trades in containers. Japan’s Tokyo steel lowered scrap purchase price, while, China’s Shagang steel announced price hike twice this week.
Turkey: Turkish market for imported scrap remained very slow this week, with no major bulk bookings getting concluded, after very active trades in the previous week. Due to dull demand of finished steel, as well as many mills, closing due to lockdown, the demand of new cargoes plummeted this week, and consequently, the workable price for imported scrap fell down.
SteelMint assessment for HMS from USA stands at USD 254/MT, CFR Turkey, slightly down by USD 3-4/MT against the closing of the last week, while European origin HMS stands at USD 249/MT CFR Turkey.
Japan: Japan’s Tokyo steel lowered its scrap purchase price after over two weeks by JPY 500/MT (USD 5) at three of its works, while keeping its purchase price unchanged at the remaining two plants.
The company now paying JPY 19,000 /MT (USD 176) for H2 scrap delivered at the Tahara plant in the central region, while for Okayama plant and Takamatsu Steel Center the new price set at JPY 18,000/MT (USD 167) and JPY 17000 /MT (USD 158) respectively.
On the other hand, export offers of Japanese scrap has shown decent recovery on improved demand and buying interests from overseas buyers like Taiwan and Vietnam, thus resulting in sharp rise in offers to South Korea as well. Japanese H2 is being offered at JPY 21,000-23,000/MT FoB to South Korea this week, although Hyundai Steel’s last bid for H2 stood at JPY 18,500 FoB only.
China: China’s Shagang Jiangsu Steel group announced price hike two times this week for all major grades of domestic steel scrap procurement, with scrap purchase prices rising by a total of RMB 130/ MT against the previous week, amid rising demand from mills as production improves further.
Post the second price cut, Shagang Steel is now paying 2330/MT (USD 329) for HMS (6-10 mm thickness), inclusive of 13% VAT, delivering to headquarters works situated in Zhangjiagang north of Shanghai in China. Traders are stocking up more material and selling lesser, in anticipation of further price hike as demand rises.
India: Trades for imported scrap to India remained very quiet this week, as most secondary mills in the country continued to remain closed amid lockdown, keeping demand limited, while gap between offers and bids widened further.
Offers for Shredded scrap were reported at USD 275-278/MT CFR Nhava Sheva, however bids from buyers were significantly lower at USD 260/MT CFR and hence no trades were witnessed during the week. Some bids for HMS 1&2 (80:20) were observed at around USD 235/MT CFR, considerably lower than prevailing the global offers.
Pakistan: Imported scrap offers to Pakistan remained stable this week in comparison to previous week’s report, however, even fewer trades were recorded this week. Many steel mills in Pakistan remained closed due to Covid-19 lockdown.
SteelMint’s assessment for Shredded 211 to Pakistan from UK/Europe is being offered at USD 275-280/MT CFR Qasim, marginally above last week’s levels. Few Shredded offers from US were reported at USD 272/MT CFR, although trades remained minimal. Some deals for shredded were concluded at USD 272-278/MT in the middle of the week.
Bangladesh: Offers to Bangladesh for imported scrap slightly moved up this week with 4-5 steelmakers returning to the market for containerized scrap imports and few trading activities being observed. Major steel mills partially resumed their operations this week upto 30-35% capacity with very limited manpower available during the pandemic.
SteelMint assessment for Shredded 211 from North America and Europe is being reported at USD 285-290/MT CFR Chittagong, up by USD 8/MT against last week, while fresh offers for Shredded were reported at USD 287-290/MT CFR, while deals concluded at around USD 285/MT.
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