India: Imported Scrap Trades Yet to Resume, Buyers Deliberating Impact of UAE Export Ban

India's imported scrap market was taken by surprise when UAE government's decision to suspend scrap exports was reported yesterday. At a time when steel mills are gradually opening again and look to make fresh bookings in the coming weeks, export ban from India's largest scrap supplier (UAE) is likely to impact the purchase pattern of the steel mills.

According to several global traders, UAE mainly shipped HMS scrap to Murdra, Nhava Sheva and Kandla port, and the steelmakers in these regions will be the most impacted. Mills will have to depend even more on UK and Europe origins now, where scrap availability is still low, hence offers are bound to move up, shared trade sources.

Another change that could be witnessed is that mills may have to start bookings earlier now. With the short transit time of just over a week, shipments from UAE gave buyers a luxury of making bookings later. In today's circumstances, where buyers are unsure when they will be able to transport previous bookings' shipments from ports, the short transit bookings from UAE would have come handy.

However, now the mills will have to plan in advance to avoid any disruptions in raw material supply in the coming months, even as most secondary mills in West India are yet to commence operations fully. Apart from UK/Europe and Australia, South African origin HMS is also an alternative, however it is more popular in Gujarat and Goa, and less preferred in Maharashtra, as per sources in a prominent trading company in South Asia.

SteelMint's assessment for Shredded scrap from Europe and North America stands mostly stable at USD 270/MT CFR Nhava Sheva, although no firm bids are still available in the market, and most buyers admitted to not having returned in the market for new deals as yet. In absence of buying inquiries from India, traders are offering good quantities to Pakistan at similar price levels, while the export market is fairly stable these days.

"We can expect the fresh deals to start concluding in another week to 10 days now, if things go as per schedule, but nothing is certain in these circumstances." shared a Gujarat based importer.

Bulk cargo arrives in Pakistan - Today, a 10,000 MT bulk cargo from Japan arrived at Qasim Port, comprising of Japan origin Shredded scrap which was booked in early March. Some sources put the deal price at USD 310-315/MT CFR Qasim in March booking. In addition to this, another March'20 bulk booking, which involved 40,000 MT of Shredded scrap cargo booked by a consortium of 7 Pakistani steelmakers, is likely to arrive in early June.