Following the recent weakening of scrap prices in deals in Turkey, scrap suppliers in Pakistan have intensified their efforts to encourage trading activity in the region, decreasing their offer prices day by day. Pakistani customers, in their turn, prefer to postpone their purchases in order to have a clearer market picture. “The market seems to be under correction. Every day I receive offers $5-10/mt lower than the previous levels. The suppliers are apparently under pressure,” a representative of one of the major longs producers in Pakistan commented. “There is no set price right now. The customers are just trying to squeeze the sellers on the price for cargoes which are on the way,” a Pakistan-based trader stated.
Accordingly, by the middle of the current week import prices of shredded 211 scrap of European origin in containers to Pakistan have decreased to $450-455/mt CFR Qasim, for end of March-first week of April shipment, compared to $460-465/mt CFR Qasim voiced at the beginning of week. Meanwhile, offers of shredded 211 scrap from the US are at $440/mt CFR Qasim, for March shipment.
Meanwhile, local prices of scrap equivalent to shredded have followed the same pattern, decreasing this week to $545/mt (PKR 86,000/mt) ex-warehouse in the north and to $520/mt (PKR 82,000/mt) ex-warehouse in the south. Domestic grade 60 rebar is offered at $831/mt (PKR 131,000/mt) ex-works in the north and at $863/mt (PKR 136,000/mt) ex-works in the south. All prices on Pakistani rupee basis include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = PKR 156.636