Bangladesh: Imported scrap market silent as mills expect price correction

Bangladesh's imported scrap market remained subdued for yet another week with only a few trade deals happening in the last few days.

Containerised scrap market muted

Bangladeshi steel mills were inactive, with limited bookings. Buyers are in wait-and-watch mode in terms of booking further slots. Fresh offers for shredded are being quoted at $565-570/t CFR Chittagong levels, down significantly by $5-10/t w-o-w.

Meanwhile, HMS (80:20) scrap from the UK is being offered at around $540/t CFR, Chittagong, unchanged w-o-w.

Bulk market quiet after active restocking

Mills were quiet for the last few months as no major bulk deals were reported. Offers for bulk HMS scrap of US-origin are at $560-565/t CFR Chittagong, down by $5-10/t CFR. Notably, around seven cargoes of bulk US- and UK-origin were booked having mixed composition of HMS and shredded a couple of weeks back.

Domestic rebar prices unmoved:The country's domestic market remained slow for yet another week. Major mills in Bangladesh are offering rebar (10-16 mm) at BDT 77,000-79,000/t ($897-921/t) exw-Chittagong, offers being mostly stable w-o-w.

However, a few Dhaka-based plants have lowered offers to BDT 72,000/t ($839/t) on an exy-basis, down by BDT 2,000/t ($23/t) w-o-w. Rebar end-users are showing negative sentiments and demand is subdued.

Outlook
Buyers remained cautious and are holding back further bookings as offers are on the higher side. They are expecting price corrections in the near term.