Pakistani mills, having increased their offers for rebar three times since the beginning of January, on January 25-26 announced the closing all further sales and bookings for rebar given the severe shortage of raw materials, scrap in particular, due to problems with opening letters of credit (LCs).
More specifically, Pakistani rebar mills such as Agha Steels, Union Steel Industries and Faizan Steel have officially closed all their rebar sales, effective immediately from January 25 and January 26. Besides, according to market sources, all other producers are likely to follow suit and stop their sales as well in the short run. The date of the reopening of sales has not been announced yet, though it is expected to be in early February. “We shall reopen our sales bookings soon as it is our utmost priority to ensure all orders are accommodated on priority basis,” one of the Pakistani rebar mills stated.
Meanwhile, indicative offers for ex-UK shredded scrap in containers have been estimated at $460/mt CFR, the same as last week. However, according to market insiders, “they [offers] have no use because it is impossible to open LCs.”