Bangladesh: Scrapped ship imports plunged to half in Jan-May'20

Bangladesh, one of the largest ship recyclers who majorly grabs the top position of ship breaking industry has seen a sharp fall in scrapped ships import by 57.63% y-o-y in Jan-May'20, according to provisional data maintained with SteelMint.

The total volume of ships demolished in the Chittagong port, Bangladesh was reported at 673,181 LDT (58 ships) in Jan-May'20 as against 1,589,035 LDT with 141 number ships in Jan-May'19.

The fall in imports was attributed to sharp jump in its bulk ferrous scrap imports, which grew by 52.46% to 845,491 t in Jan-May'20 as against 554,564 t in the same time last year. In addition to this, no activities during Apr'20 due to COVID-19 fears has somehow pulled down scrapped ships import as labor availability was a big concern amid lockdown.

South Asia's overall imports being plunged

Furthermore, in the first five months of CY'20, a total of 137 ships were demolished in India, Bangladesh & Pakistan, recording a fall of about 43%.

-- The total quantity breached in the port of Alang (India), Chittagong (Bangladesh) & Gadani (Pakistan) was recorded at 1,258,704 LDT in Jan-May'20, recording a fall of 42.80% y-o-y as against 2,200,689 LDT (229 ships) in Jan-May'19.

-- In India, the total volume of ships demolished in the Alang port was marked at 549,721 LDT (65 ships), down by 3.97% y-o-y in Jan-May'20 from 572,470 LDT with 75 number of ships in Jan-May'19.

-- While in the Pakistan market, imports volume fell to 35,802 LDT (14 ships) on y-o-y in Jan-May'20 as against 39,184 LDT, 13 ships in Jan-May'19.