India: Imported Scrap Prices Remain Range-bound in Recent Trades

Imported scrap offers to India remained more-or-less stable this week, after observing successive downtrend in prices for several weeks, SteelMint learned from industry participants. Trades remained active in containerized as well as bulk market, with steel-mills looking to actively restock while the global market is down. With the improvement in overall sentiments, the market is expecting buying activity to rise further at buyer-friendly prices.

SteelMint’s assessment for containerized Shredded from the UK, Europe and USA to India stands at USD 250-255/MT, CFR Nhava Sheva, slightly down by USD 3-4/MT against last week's report. A major global supplier sold around 5,000 MT of Shredded scrap this week, at around USD 254-255/MT CFR, while few suppliers from Europe even offered at price level USD 3-4/MT lower.

HMS scrap offers too remained in a similar range as last week, with HMS 1 offers from Dubai being reported at around USD 250-255/MT, CFR while HMS 1&2 (80:20) offers from European & Australian origin were reported in the range of 237-240/MT CFR. A South East Asia based supplier sold 1000 MT of Australian origin HMS 1 for USD 240/MT, CFR Nhava Sheva.

Few trades for West African origin HMS were heard to Goa, at USD 245/MT CFR Goa, translating to 235/MT CFR Nhava Sheva, while South African HMS 1 remained at USD 260/MT level.

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that a USA (west coast) based yard had sold a bulk cargo vessel to a Gujarat based steelmaker, comprising of 25,000 MT of Shredded scrap and 7,000 MT of Bonus scrap for a total of 32,000 MT of scrap, at an average price of USD 261/MT CFR Kandla. The shipment is expected for November 2019.

Indian domestic scrap prices fall slightly - Local scrap offers in India dropped all through the week, as falling prices of Sponge Iron offered little support. The current assessment of local HMS 1&2 (80:20) stands at INR 20,900/MT (USD 294) ex Mumbai, while Chennai based HMS 1&2 (80:20) assessed at INR 19,400/MT (USD 274) ex-works, falling by INR 400-600/MT on a weekly basis.