India’s import scrap market has remained muted during the past week, with local prices stable and buyers preferring to wait for import offers to bottom out before making fresh bookings, traders said on Wednesday, October 9.
Ex-UAE shredded scrap offers have been mostly stable at $245-250/mt CFR Nhava Seva port near Mumbai, compared to $245-255/mt CFR a week ago. It has been learned that deals have been concluded for early November delivery at the higher end of the range at $248-250/mt CFR Nhava Seva, the sources told SteelOrbis.
However, even though secondary steel producers did not conclude large bookings, all attention is on ex-US scrap offers which have also edged lower to $240-242/mt CFR Nhava Seva. Local steel mills are anticipating a further fall in offers in reaction of higher volume availability and hence are deferring fresh bookings to the next market bottom. “Local scrap dealers are not finding any buyers. End-users among domestic secondary steel producers have shifted attention to imports. Even though fresh bookings have remained modest owing to the festival season, stringent restrictions on Chinese scrap imports will continue to put pressure on import offers and buyers in no hurry to restock can wait for prices to settle further,” a member of the Metal Recycling Association of India (MRAI) said.
According to the traders, local prices have remained unchanged and buying interest low as most secondary steel producers are keeping a close watch on import offers. Ex-stockyard scrap prices at Mandi Govindgarh in northern India have remained at INR 21,500/mt ($304/mt). Ex-stockyard prices at Alang in western India have also remained unchanged during the past week at INR 21,000/mt ($297/mt).