By the beginning of the current week, foreign suppliers of shredded scrap to Pakistan decreased their offers to $530-535/mt CFR, down $5/mt from last week, thereby a certain rise in buying interest among Pakistani customers. Specifically, a few lots of shredded 211 scrap of European origin in containers have changed hands at $530-533/mt CFR Qasim, while in the bookings for ex-US shredded scrap even $528/mt CFR Qasim has been agreed. Seeing a certain rush among Pakistani buyers to restock inventories, stemming from a tightness of supply, foreign scrap suppliers withdrew their offers and started testing the market with new levels at $535-540/mt CFR Qasim. Such developments have made Pakistani buyers delay new bookings. “The market is searching for a direction and awaiting cues from Turkey. Everyone seems to be nervous. I guess a proper picture for the domestic market will appear by the end of the first week in January,” an official at a major Pakistan-based rebar mill stated. In the middle of the current week, ex-UAE HMS scrap prices were heard mostly at $470-480/mt CFR, down $5/mt from the high end of the range valid a week ago.
Meanwhile, prices for local scrap equivalent to shredded in Pakistan have settled at the high end of the previous week’s price range, at PKR 117,000/mt ($656/mt) ex-warehouse.
All prices on Pakistani rupee basis include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = PKR 178.463