Bangladesh: Imported scrap trade remains slow on limited buying

Imported scrap prices into Bangladesh remain mostly unchanged w-o-w as steel mills are cautious amid limited inquiries and bearish steel demand in the domestic market.

Market players expect that the current slow buying trend will continue ahead of the monsoon season. Bangladesh's general budget for FY'23-24 is likely to be announced in the second week of June, which may provide further clarity as regards market direction. Industry participants are hopeful that steel demand will improve as government project completion gathers steam.

Fresh offers

Indicative offers for US-origin bulk are at $415-420/t CFR, down by $10/t w-o-w. Japanese-origin H2 material was assessed at $400/t, unchanged w-o-w.

Suppliers are less interested to quote offers to Bangladesh and are looking for more workable prices from South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam. However, Vietnamese steel mills like those in Bangladesh are faced with similar challenges and buyers are showing little interest in concluding deals.

On the other hand, Bangladeshi buyers are looking for different procurement sources like Australia and Brazil. They have recently bought some high-density scrap consignments of HMS and shredded despite the material being available at higher offers in comparison with the UK.

SteelMint's assessment for UK-origin shredded are at $460/t CFR Chittagong, unchanged w-o-w.

Domestic demand slow

The domestic market situation is yet to improve owing to liquidity issues. Local rebar and ship-breaking scrap prices are subdued due to general lack of demand.

Fresh offers for rebar from Chittagong-based steel mill are around BDT 95,000-96,000/t exw, down by BDT 2,000/t w-o-w.

Following this trend, Dhaka-based mills have quoted fresh offers at BDT 88,000/t exw.

Local ship-breaking scrap prices are at BDT 60,000/t exy, down BDT 4,000/t w-o-w.