South Asia: Imported ferrous scrap market remains largely stable, India sees modest recovery

• Pak in holiday mood, Bangla prefers ship-breaking scrap
  
  
• Turkiye market declines marginally, rebar sales sluggish
  
  

The South Asian and Turkish imported scrap markets remained subdued, impacted by regional challenges and year-end slowdowns. India witnessed a slight recovery in demand as buyers restocked ahead of the holidays, while Pakistan's market activity remained stalled amidst liquidity constraints and the general year-end holiday mood. Bangladesh continued to face subdued trading trends due to political and economic hurdles, with mills relying on cheaper alternatives like ship-breaking scrap. In Turkiye, market sentiment were bearish as buyers and sellers remained at odds, with limited activity and sluggish rebar sales further dampening the outlook.

Overall, imported scrap offers remained largely stable with minor fluctuations of $1/tonne across markets compared to the last closing on Friday.

Overview

India: In India, demand for imported scrap saw a slight uptick compared to recent days as buyers began restocking ahead of the holidays, with higher number of inquiries reported. Indicative offers for shredded scrap from the US and UK/Europe stood at $385-390/t CFR Nhava Sheva, while UK/Europe HMS (80:20) was offered at $365-370/t CFR.

Pakistan: Pakistan's imported scrap market remained slow, with limited trading activity as most participants shifted to a holiday mode. UK shredded offers held steady at $390-393/t CFR Qasim, while UAE HMS hovered at $385/t CFR, though no major purchases were reported last week. The domestic market faced liquidity issues due to year-end financial closures, with local scrap prices at PKR 137,000-140,000/t and rebar at PKR 240,000-245,0000/t. Forced sales in rebars indicated weak demand, while market sentiments remained bearish.

Bangladesh: Bangladesh's imported scrap market stayed subdued amid ongoing challenges such as lengthy LC approval time and political unrest. Australian HMS 1 offers stood at $375-380/t CFR Chattogram, shredded at $386-390/t CFR, and Japanese HMS at $390-395/t CFR.

Dhaka mills favoured cheaper ship-breaking scrap, while major players dominated bulk imports thanks to favourable LC conditions. Political unrest, with blocked investor accounts and restricted banking activities, has frozen investments, further weakening demand.

Local steel sales dropped to 100,000 t/month, and project activity remained muted. Chattogram mills exercised caution, relying on existing stocks to navigate through challenging near-term market conditions.

Turkiye: The Turkish imported scrap market saw a slight decline today amid limited activity. Buyers and sellers remained locked in a stand-off, with mills pressing for lower prices while exporters held firm on their targets. US-origin bulk HMS (80:20) was assessed at $350/t CFR, down marginally by $1/t. Buyer bids for EU-origin material dropped to $340/t CFR, though these levels were deemed unworkable by suppliers. Rebar sales remained sluggish, giving mills time to negotiate, while some European exporters paused activities ahead of the holidays. Market sentiments leaned on the bearish side, with sellers showing signs of reduced confidence amid weaker commodity markets and a lack of urgency on both sides.

Price assessments

India: UK-origin shredded indicatives were kept unchanged at $390/t CFR Nhava Sheva, compared to the last closing on Friday.

Pakistan: UK-origin shredded indicatives edged down by $1/t to $392/t CFR Qasim compared to last closing on Friday.

Bangladesh: UK-origin shredded were assessed stable at $394/t CFR Chattogram, compared to last the closing on Friday.

Turkiye: US-origin HMS (80:20) bulk was assessed at $350/t CFR Turkiye, down by $1/t compared to the last closing on Friday.