Sharp fall in import scrap offers in India and the rise in import enquiries have led to lower domestic scrap bookings, SteelOrbis has been informed. Imported shredded scrap offers have declined by $10/mt to around $275/mt CFR for ex-UAE material and higher number of container bookings were reported in the market for mid to end-October deliveries, market sources said.
According to a New Delhi based scrap trader, the fall in scrap prices in Turkey is expected to have a depressing impact on prices in Gulf markets and hence purchases of ex-UAE scrap in India are expected to continue if the Indian rupee remains stable below the INR 72 to a dollar mark.
According to market sources, local scrap prices have decreased by INR 500/mt ($7/mt) during the past week to INR 23,300/mt ($324/mt) ex-stockyard at Mandi Govindgarh in northern India. Prices have moved down by INR 300/mt ($4/mt) to INR 22,700/mt ($316/mt) ex-stockyard at Alang in western India.
“The sharp fall in imported offers has more to compensate the depreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar, triggering higher enquiries for imported scrap from secondary steel mills,” a member of Raipur Iron and Steel Trade Association said.
“Even though most mills are lowering capacity utilizations they prefer booking imports as differential with local scrap is in favor of imports. Also in logistics cost of local scrap is now higher than in case of imported scrap from the ports,” the member added.
$1 = INR 71.87