India: Imported Scrap Trades Slow Down as Offers Move Up

Imported scrap trades in India remained quite slow this week, with buying of Shredded scrap in particular remaining silent all through the week, SteelMint learnt from market participants. Although offers moved up for yet another week as global market continued its uptrend, however buyers remained less interested in limited inquiries witnessed.

SteelMint’s offers for containerized Shredded from the UK, Europe and the USA to India has climbed up to USD 285-290/MT, CFR Nhava Sheva, with offers from most suppliers closer to USD 290-292/MT now, however, no major booking was reported for Shredded, as buying interest is lower by USD 10-15/MT than offers.

A trade source shared that last bookings of shredded were concluded at USD 270-272/MT levels last month and the buyers are silent since then. As predicted earlier, Indian buyers have majorly gone out of the market for imported shredded scrap, with the current price levels not viable for steel mills, amid present domestic market scenario.

On the other hand, there were some trades reported for HMS scrap this week. HMS 1&2 (80:20) was sold in decent quantity at USD 265-270/MT CFR Nhava Sheva, while South African origin HMS 1 was also sold at USD 275-280/MT CFR this week. Few trades of West African HMS 1 were also witnessed at USD 260/MT CFR Goa, translating to USD 255/MT CFR Nhava Sheva.

HMS scrap offers from Dubai also moved up against last week as HMS 1 (super) from Dubai now being offered at around USD 273-275/MT CFR while HMS 1&2 (with ci & gi) from Dubai was being offered at around USD 268-270/MT CFR. Other grades of HMS from Dubai which included auto parts were also offered at USD 260/MT levels however not much trades from UAE were witnessed.

Few offers of UK origin P&S were reported at around USD 300/MT CFR

Offers to Pakistan continue To Rise - By the closing of the week, imported scrap offers to Pakistan have continued to rise. Later in the week, few deals were reported to have concluded at USD 289-290/MT CFR Qasim, while few premium yards in the UK are now even offering at around USD 294/MT CFR. Slight fall in domestic market observed recently may slow down the buyers, however, average trades are expected to continue.