Import scrap offer prices in India have declined slightly in the past week, but low bids from buyers and cheaper local options have resulted in silent trade activity, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Wednesday, January 22.
Sellers have kept containerized shredded scrap prices from the UK/Europe unchanged at $375-380/mt CFR Nhava Sheva port in the west early this week, though later some lower offers at $370-375/mt CFR were voiced. But stray bids have been reported at around $360-365/mt CFR and have not been accepted by the sellers.
“We are receiving shredded scrap offers at $378/mt CFR Kandla port, but we submitted bids at $365/mt CFR and the seller responded with a revised offer of $371/mt CFR, which also was not acceptable to us. The current offer levels are not viable for us. It is not only the weak demand from secondary mills and the soft long product markets, but imports involving currency risks do not work for most mid-sized trading firms,” a Mumbai-based ferrous and non-ferrous scrap dealer said.
So, considering the latest bids and offers, the import scrap reference price for India has settled at $365-375/mt CFR, down by $5/mt over the past week.
Offers for HMS (80:20) scrap of UK origin are at $350/mt CFR and some offers were lower at $345/mt CFR, but have still been considered “unviable” by buyers locally.
According to the sources in the local market, scrap prices have been moving down and have lost around INR 300/mt ($3/mt) to levels of around INR 33,400/mt ($385/mt) ex-Mandi Govindgarh and there is sufficient volume availability to meet the soft demand from secondary mills and more importantly without currency risks stemming from the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar.