Trading activity in the import scrap market in Bangladesh has remained limited this week amid continued issues with opening letters of credit, extremely slow end-users’ demand and buyers’ expectations of further declines. Thus, market insiders have reported only occasional containerized bookings, while no deals for scrap in bulk have been confirmed so far.
The latest small tonnage deals for containerized PNS scrap from Malaysia have been reported at $425/mt CFR, as compared to offers for PNS scrap at $450/mt CFR last week. Meanwhile, offers for ex-UK/EU HMS I/II 80:20 scrap have been voiced at $415/mt CFR this week, with a few deals reported at abovementioned level. At the same time, offers for shredded scrap in containers have been rare this week, with the indicative offers estimated by Bangladeshi buyers at $430-440/mt CFR, down by $5-15/mt over the past week.
Meanwhile, indicative offers for ex-US HMS grade scrap in bulk have been heard at $400-405/mt CFR, down by $15-20/mt week on week. “Rumours about deals for ex-US scrap in bulk are circulating in the market, but there is no official confirmation so far,” a market insider said.
“All, even big mills are operating below 50 percent capacity and sales are also very low. The war in Ukraine and the US printing money have provoked inflation in the whole world,” a Bangladeshi trader told SteelOrbis.
“In Bangladesh it is full rainy season now, but no rains at all. So, construction it not hampered by rains but it is affected by economic reasons,” he added.