South Asia: Imported ferrous scrap offers largely stable in slow market

The South Asian market remained quiet today as it is the first day of the week. Indian buyers have inquired but are wary about the current price levels. Pakistani steel mills have begun restocking for the coming month, while markets in Bangladesh and Turkiye have also shown a sluggish trend in terms of activities. However, prices remained stable d-o-d.

Market Overview

India: In India, offers for imported scrap (shredded) are still being heard at around $430-435/t CFR from Europe compared to Friday. Offers for HMS (80:20) scrap are being heard at $405-410/t CFR Chennai from West Africa.

"Despite the improvement in demand in the last three days, not many deals have been concluded, so market sentiments seem bearish," market participants informed SteelMint.

In addition, as Turkiye and Asian buyers have been continuously booking material, Indian scrap buyers are anticipating some deals to be concluded in the upcoming week at attractive offers.

However, China, the world's largest steel producer, intends to reduce crude steel production levels. This would lead to a corresponding drop in scrap consumption. This may offer Indian buyers an opportunity to capture the volumes that suppliers will divert from China toward South Asia. However, this depends on how healthy India's domestic consumption will be in September.

Pakistan: Slight movement is seen in the market as Pakistani steel mills have started re-stocking scrap for the upcoming production cycle. "Offers for Europe-origin shredded scrap are hovering at around $435-440/t and material availability is smooth at these levels," a steel major informed SteelMint.

In the domestic market, offers for shredded scrap are hovering at PKR 180,000-185,000/t ($605-622/t).

Major domestic steel producers have revised rebar prices by up to PKR 7,000-10,000/t ($24-34/t) with effect from today due to higher energy costs and volatile PKR-US dollar parity which is ultimately affecting the manufacturing cost. The revised offer stands at around PKR 270,000/t ($908/t).

Bangladesh: The imported ferrous scrap market in Bangladesh continued its slow trend due to a lack of offers heard for the day, whereas indicatives for the UK-origin shredded scrap were heard at $445-448/t and HMS (80:20) at $405-410/t. As per market sources, current PNS offers were heard at $465/t from Hong Kong. Bulk negotiations are being heard but these have not concluded yet due to LC opening issues. A few containerised deals concluded from New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Brazil last week.

Turkiye: The Turkish ferrous scrap market witnessed a slowdown due to buyer-side caution, as mills have paused purchasing after a round of rush bookings last week.

Offers from Europe were heard at $375-380/t where, whereas Baltic-origin offers were at $370/t. The last reported deal pointed at $372/t from US.

Recent deals

• Around 4,000 t of UK-origin shredded scrap was booked at $435-440/t in recent days on a CFR Qasim basis.
  
  
• 500 t of Europe-origin HMS (80:20) scrap were booked at $408/t CFR Nhava Sheva.
  
  

Price assessments

India: UK-origin shredded scrap offers were at $435/t CFR Nhava Sheva, unchanged against Friday.

Pakistan: UK-origin shredded scrap offers were at $440/t CFR Qasim, stable from last closing.

Bangladesh: Offers for UK-origin shredded scrap were at $445/t CFR Chattogram, the same as the last offers.

Turkiye: US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) prices were stable at $372/t CFR Turkiye.

Outlook: The Indian market may see moderate activity as buyers do not want to wait much longer. Pakistani buyers may see a slowdown in import volumes owing to LC opening concerns again. Overall, South Asian scrap prices may continue at present levels due to uncertain trade flows.