Import scrap prices in India have showed a mixed trend during the past week amid subdued trading activity owing to the festival holidays ahead, while the depreciating local currency and competitive domestic scrap prices prompted secondary mills to prefer local raw material sourcing, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Wednesday, March 12.
Sources said that, with few sellers active in the sub-continent during Ramadan and the Festival of Colours ahead, containerized scrap offers for UK/Europe origin shredded were mainly at $375-385/mt CFR Nhava Sheva port in the west compared to $380-395/mt CFR a week ago.
But with bids reported at $370-375/mt CFR, trade activity has remained negligible. Only one shredded scrap trade for 2,000 mt of UK origin was reported by a Gujarat-based induction furnace operator cum scrap trading firm at $374/mt CFR Kandla port in the west, the sources said.
The reference price for Indian shredded scrap stands at $375/mt CFR, inching up by $2.5/mt on average from last week.
Europe origin HMS I/II (80:20) is quoted at $350-360/mt CFR, slightly higher than $350-355/mt CFR a week ago.
But with the local currency depreciating and touching a historical weak level of INR 87.30 to the US dollar, induction furnace operators have preferred to avoid currency risks and instead have been looking at competitive local scrap.
The domestic scrap price is up a marginal INR 100/mt ($1.50/mt) to INR 34,000/mt ($390/mt) ex-warehouse Mandi Govindgarh in the north but with volume-based discounts in the range of 1-2 percent offered by most traders, sources said.
“Trading has been muted by low key business activity for holidays. Import scrap demand in India can be expected to remain on the lower side with weak currency being a contributor. Secondly, there is a lot of confusion of US tariffs. Going ahead, the global scrap price outlook is biased towards a hardening on tighter scrap material flowing out of the US to the global market,” a Mumbai-based distributor said.
“UK and Europe sellers are hopeful of prices hardening and hence are unlikely to adjust to push deals in India where demand will remain weak owing to the weak currency,” he added.