Occasional deals in the Turkish scrap market done at higher prices during the past week have encouraged scrap exporters to raise their offers to Bangladesh. However, trading activity in the region has remained muted, with most customers refusing to purchase at such levels, citing unacceptable input costs.
Accordingly, in the middle of last week offers for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap by bulk from the US were voiced at $535-540/mt CFR for shipment at the end of July-beginning of August, while shredded scrap of the same origin was said to be available at $540-545/mt CFR. This means that prices have added about $15/mt compared to the tradable level seen a week before and concurrently, returned to the levels fixed in the deals concluded about two weeks ago. Moreover, most bulk scrap sellers are going to remain bullish and ask for $540/mt CFR for HMS I/II 80:20 in new deals, sources said.
Meanwhile, in the container scrap segment, trading has been better. SteelOrbis has learned of bookings of 2,500 mt of ex-Singapore PNS and 1,000 mt of shredded scrap at $562/mt CFR and at $539/mt CFR, respectively. Last week’s level for shredded scrap in containers was at $525-530/mt CFR.
It is noteworthy that Bangladeshi and all other global market players have been concerned about recent developments in the freight market. “Apart from freight rates rising week by week, container availability is a big issue in terms of doing any business nowadays,” a Bangladesh-based source stated.