India’s imported scrap trading activity has showed a significant improvement both in the number of trades as well as volume bookings, supported by the softening of ex-US, ex-EU and ex-UK scrap prices by up to $15/mt and by higher availability boosting sentiments among local secondary steel mills as regards restocking to restart operations or to increase capacity utilization levels, SteelOrbis learned on Wednesday, June 24.
The combination of improvement in exportable volumes along the US West Coast and low buying interest from Middle Eastern steel mills has softened export offers, prompting Indian secondary steel mills to become more aggressive in concluding transactions.
Market sources said that ex-West Coast HMS I/II 80:20 has been traded in the range of $265-270/mt CFR Kandla port in the west, compared to trades completed at around $280-282/mt CFR in the earlier week.
The sources said that a Maharashtra-based secondary steel mill shifting from sponge iron feedstock to ferrous scrap after restarting operations earlier this month concluded a booking for an estimated 35,000 mt of ex-US bulk HMS I/II scrap at around $265-267/mt CFR.
A Gujarat-based secondary steel mill and also a leading scrap trader contracted an end of August-early September delivery of 30,000 mt of bulk scrap at around $266/mt CFR Kandla port, the market sources added.
It was pointed out that, while trading activity during the past week has mostly been confined to ex-US imports, stray deals have also been reported for containerized ex-UK shredded scrap as prices sought lower levels compared to the previous week.
A central India-based secondary steel mill has booked ex-UK shredded containerized scrap at around $270-274/mt CFR compared to a trade concluded for similar ex-UK shredded scrap at $286/mt CFR in the previous week, sources said.
With a larger number of secondary steel mills resuming operations or attempting to increase plant capacity utilization levels, the trading environment in the local scrap market has also showed slight improvements with prices edging up. Local scrap prices have increased by INR 300/mt ($4/mt) to INR 21,300/mt ($281/mt) ex-stockyard at Mandi Govindgarh in northern India, while prices gained faster by INR 500/mt ($7/mt) to INR 20,100/mt ($266/mt) ex-stockyard at Alang in the west.
$1 = INR 75.70