Bangladesh: Imported Scrap Trades in Containers Remain Slow

Imported scrap trades to Bangladesh showed mixed trends over the last one week. On one hand, three US origin bulk cargoes for scrap were booked by two different mills at considerably lowered price, while on the other hand, container trades remained slow with limited offers on container shortage and lower bids from buyers.

Three bulk bookings from US recyclers were witnessed in a span of just 4-5 days, with one major steelmaker buying 2 bulk cargoes, one comprising of entirely shredded and other a mixed cargo, while another mill booked a composite cargo yesterday. The price for these 3 bookings were reported in the range of USD 295/MT for Shredded, USD 290/MT for HMS and USD 300/MT for P&S, CFR Chittagong. In total, 94,000 MT of bulk scrap has been booked from US this week, along with a few Japanese cargoes at USD 297-298/MT CFR for Busheling.

Containerized scrap offers remained few in numbers, with US and UK/Europe origin Shredded scrap being offered at around USD 315-320/MT CFR Chittagong by a few suppliers, down by USD 10-15/MT against last week. However, buyers were predominantly less interested, with anticipation of further drop in prices amid potential impact of global covid-19 risk, in addition to the slow domestic steel market.

Few trades for HMS 1 were heard at around USD 297/MT CFR Chittagong from Australia, while HMS 1 offers stands in the range of USD 295-300/MT CFR from most of the origins, with Brazilian material being reported at USD 300/MT CFR. HMS 1&2 (80:20) offers were reported in the range of USD 281-285/MT CFR from Australia and Europe, on account of low buyers' inquiries.

Few offers for P&S were heard at around USD 315-320/MT, considerably down against USD 325-330/MT levels last week.

"With the prevailing domestic long steel prices in the market hovering at BDT 53,000/MT ex plant for 2nd tier mills' rebar, the viable scrap purchase price levels for medium mills and container buyers is USD 300-305/MT, CFR for Shredded and USD 290 for HMS 1, and most buyers are targeting these levels" shared a Dhaka based steelmaker.

With the global prices looking to slide down in the coming days, especially after the sharp price drop in the recent bulk bookings, market participants are cautiously watching the trend and container bookings may remain slow for the coming days.