The revival in the local Indian scrap market has proved to be short-lived with prices falling across local regions amid increased import activity as import offers have softened marginally, traders said on Wednesday, April 15.
According to a Mumbai-based trader, local prices for HMS 80:20 scrap have declined by INR 1,250/mt ($20/mt) over the past week at Alang in western India to around INR 21,400/mt ($343/mt). The trader said that, in the northern Indian market at Mandi Govind Garh, prices have decreased by INR 400/mt ($6/mt) during the past week to around INR 24,600/mt ($394/mt).
Sources said that ex-Europe scrap offers have fallen by $5/mt in the same period to the range of $265-270/mt and significant bookings have been reported in the market, putting pressure on local prices.
The flurry of import transactions has also been prompted by the withdrawal by India's Ministry of Commerce of the mandatory pre-inspection clause for all metallic scrap imports stipulated in the country's Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-2020.
$1 = INR 62.43