Pakistan: COVID-19 Lockdown Restricts Imported Scrap Trades

Pakistan Steel industry is mostly in a shutdown mode due to the severe escalation in the COVID-19 outbreak. Sindh region was already in lockdown last week with all Karachi based steel mills being shut down temporarily, however now many of the mills even outside of the Sindh region have been closed, including many major steelmakers in Punjab region.

SteelMint's assessment for Shredded 211 to Pakistan from UK/Europe stands at USD 262/MT CFR Qasim, down by USD 16-18/MT against last week closing, after a sharp plunge global prices in fresh Turkey deals. However, no major deals were reported in the last couple of days, due to mills shutting down as well as ongoing sharp price downtrend. Offers also remained very limited.

"Things are not well. Imports are also going at a very slow pace and there is a lockdown of 14 days announced which resulted in few mills shutting down", shared a Pakistan based steel maker.

Many global suppliers refrained from offering to Pakistan this week, due to the prevailing circumstances in the country which may result in a total closure of the country's entire steel industry in the coming days.

"Steel markets in Punjab are also shutting down and there were no new transactions recorded this week. The lockdown has been announced till 6th April" shared a prominent steelmaker in Punjab region.