Import scrap offers for India have been lowered by sellers over the past week, but have still failed to evoke any buying interest, with mills bidding even lower, lacking the appetite to restock, faced with declining finished steel prices and low demand ahead of the monsoon season and the prospects of further rises in inventories, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Wednesday, June 17.
Ex-UK/Europe containerized shredded scrap offers are heard at $395-400/mt CFR Nhava Sheva port in the west, compared to $400-403/mt CFR a week ago. Some other sellers like Australia may provide slight discounts from this level - at $392-393/mt CFR, but bids have been even lower and are unviable for sellers, while indicating the reluctance of Indian mills to conclude any deals. Sellers do not deem it possible to go below $390/mt CFR for now.
At the same time, HMS I/II offers have been dropped sharply to the range of $345-355/mt CFR, compared to $352-358/mt CFR, but with bids at $340/mt CFR no deals have been concluded.
The sources said that finished steel prices are already on a sustained decline and, with low demand looming ahead of the monsoon season, Indian secondary mills are planning output cuts and do not need to be aggressive in raw material restocking. Hence, most are submitting very low bids against import offers.
“Sellers are only making minor adjustments to offers, preferring to protect their own margins. Buyers, on the other hand, are making non-serious bids as they do not face any urgency to restock raw materials at a time when mills are cutting back output to balance the seasonal downturn in demand,” a Mumbai-based ferrous and non-ferrous trader said.
