Import scrap prices in India have continued to move sideways and no deals have been reported in the market in the past week, with primary and secondary steel mills uncertain over maintaining plant operation levels, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Wednesday, April 28.
Sources said that ex-US containerized shredded scrap prices have been submitted in the range of $450-470/mt CFR Nhava Sheva port in the west, with the upper end of the range increasing by $5/mt from last week, but no mill has been willing to conclude a trade as they are unsure of how plant operations levels can be maintained in view of the government directive diverting all oxygen production capacity to medical usage. The tradable value is still $455/mt CFR, in line with the previous week.
“All furnaces need some kind of gas charge to maintain output. It is very difficult to maintain operations when there is no gas available for charging. We do not know how long secondary mills can operate. Hence, there is no question of restocking raw material under present circumstances,” an official at the Metal Recycling Association of India (MRAI) said.
“Also, workers engaged by secondary steel mills have started to go back to their hometowns as the Indian pandemic situation is a disaster now. Lockdown or no lockdown, the situation is such that plant operations coming to a halt is only a matter of time,” he said.
A Mumbai-based scrap trader pointed out that, when a national lockdown was announced in March last year, imported scrap prices crashed $44/mt in two weeks and, with regional lockdowns already in place and a national lockdown not being ruled out either, no buyer has been willing to conclude a trade at the current price. He posed the question as to why any importer would conclude a trade now not knowing what the market condition will be or whether plants will remain in operation once the cargo arrives at port.