Indian Imported Scrap Prices Fall, Buyers Turn Cautious

In conversation with industry participants, SteelMint learned that imported scrap offers to India have dropped again, on account of global softening earlier this week following the Turkish bookings at sharply lowered prices. Trades remained slow again this week as most buyers stood cautious of the downward trend.

SteelMint’s assessment for containerized Shredded from the UK, Europe and USA to India stands at USD 260/MT, CFR Nhava Sheva, down sharply by over USD 5/MT against last week’s report, however only few deals of low quantity were reported. Few traders also offered USD 256-257/MT due to lower buying interest. Many foreign yards were reported to be mostly sold out for next month and did not actively offer to India during this week.

As per reports by a trade source, a bulk cargo vessel was booked by a Gujarat based steelmaker from a UK based yard comprising, of 40,000 MT of mixed grade scrap at an average price of around USD 240/MT CFR Kandla, however, the booking could not be confirmed by the time of publishing.

HMS prices also declined by the similar margin due to demand turning slow, after slight upturn in activity last week. HMS 1 offers from Dubai were reported to around USD 260/MT, CFR continuing to be at the same level as shredded. UK origin HMS 1&2 has dropped to around USD 245/MT CFR, while higher quality HMS 1 from South Africa was offered at around USD 265/MT amid limited trades.

Few deals of West African HMS to Goa were reported at around USD 245/MT CFR Goa, which translates to USD 240/MT CFR Nhava Sheva.

Pakistan Follows The Downtrend - In line with the global downturn this week, imported scrap offers to Pakistan also declined slightly after remaining stable for more than a week. In last couple of days, few bookings of Shredded scrap from Europe were reported at USD 255-256/MT CFR Qasim, down USD 5-6/MT from earlier in the week. Buyers have shied away from any large quantity bookings under the current market and mostly making smaller 500 MT bookings as per requirements.

Indian Domestic Scrap Prices Fall - After some stability over the last couple of weeks, local scrap prices dropped this week by around INR 500-600/MT W-o-W. The current assessment of local HMS 1&2 (80:20) stands at INR 21,100/MT (USD 297) ex Mumbai, down INR 500/MT against last week, while Chennai based HMS 1&2 (80:20) assessed at INR 20,400/MT ex-works.