India’s scrap import activity has fallen to negligible levels as buyers among local secondary steel mills have pulled out of the market being wary of higher prices and uncertainties over new regions being subject to fresh lockdowns, SteelOrbis has learned on Wednesday, July 29.
Not more than one deal was reported in a market that fell quiet amid the rising prices of ex-US ferrous scrap and the lack of appetite among secondary steel mills to restock raw materials as they have been unable to plan production in view of several regions adopting periodic short-term lockdowns, disrupting supply chains.
Market sources said that the ex-US containerized shredded scrap import price has continued on an upward trend and reached $280-290/mt CFR Nhava Seva, compared to $280-285/mt CFR in the previous week.
A Maharashtra-based secondary steel mill has concluded a contract for 12,000 mt of ex-US shredded containerized scrap at a price estimated by the market at around $282-285/mt CFR Nhava Seva, the sources said, versus a deal at $280-282/mt CFR a week ago.
At the same time, bulk HMS I/II 80:20 scrap from the US was priced at $270-275/mt CFR Nhava Seva, but no deals have been reported in the market during the past week.
“Local secondary mills have already completed their current round of raw material restocking. They are not in a rush to make fresh bookings being wary of steadily rising import prices,” a member of the Metal Recycling Association of India (MRAI) said.
“Also, the local market and secondary steel mills are expecting the uptrend in the import price of ex-US scrap to taper off in August. With US-based steel mills really slow in increasing capacity utilizations, buyers here expect that supply-side pressures will trigger an August correction and it is better to defer any bookings immediately,” he added.
The lack of buying interest among secondary steel mills has been reflected in dull activity in the local scrap market with prices largely remaining at past levels, traders said. According to them, scrap prices have remained unchanged at INR 21,800/mt ($291/mt) ex-stockyard at Mandi Govindgarh in northern India, while it was stable at INR 20,800/mt ($278/mt) ex-stockyard at Alang in the west.
$1 = INR 74.90