According to sources, while India has continued importing low volumes of ex-US containerized HMS I and shredded scrap, the majority of import scrap buyers are reportedly adopting a wait-and-see approach due to market uncertainty. Some buyers are said to be concerned about a possible global scrap price correction of $10-15/mt in early summer. Both UK and US export scrap offers have declined slightly over May and are expected to trend soft sideways in June.
On May 8, SteelOrbis reported offers for ex-US containerized shredded at $300-310/mt CFR Nhava Sheva and containerized HMS I/II 80:20 at $275-285/mt CFR Nhava Sheva.
According to sources close to SteelOrbis, India is importing containerized shredded scrap at $290-300/mt CFR Nhava Sheva and HMS I/II 80:20 at $270-275/mt CFR Nhava Sheva from various other regions including the UK. A source noted that US offers are presently limited awaiting further interest, with offers at $300-305/mt CFR Nhava Sheva for containerized shredded and $275-280/mt CFR Nhava Sheva for HMS I/II 80:20. Both offer ranges reflect a decline of $5/mt from the top end of early May ranges.
With the US domestic scrap market rumored to trend soft-sideways in the Midwest in June, sources point to a potential surplus of shredded scrap in the East coast due to limited shredded export volumes and global market uncertainty. “The import scrap market to India should generally trade in the same range to only down slightly through the summer,” one source stated.