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Cargoes of heavy melt scrap 1&2 (80:20) from the United States West Coast were heard to have been offered at $540 per tonne cfr while shredded was offered at $545-550 per tonne cfr this week.
Freight for bulk cargoes plying this route was around $95-100 per tonne on Thursday compared with $70-75 per tonne at the start of July amid persistent congestion at Bangladesh’s Chittagong Port and a shortage of vessels, sources said.
A South Asian trading source with outstanding contracts to supply bulk scrap to Bangladesh told Fastmarkets that he had encountered several vessel cancellations of late because of vessel owners did not want to come to the congested port.
But despite this, steelmakers in the country are unwilling to match the offer prices. They were only willing to consider prices of $505-510 per tonne cfr Bangladesh on Thursday, sources said, due to them not having any urgent need of scrap and because purchase prices for the steelmaking raw material in Turkey have been retreating in recent days.
“Because of the rainy season, steel sales are not very high at the moment. Also, following the lockdown in Bangladesh [from July 23 until August 10 in response to surging Covid-19 cases], infrastructure projects are still at a standstill,” a Bangladeshi steelmaker source told Fastmarkets.
“The lockdown is over now so rebar sales have picked up in the domestic market, but the market is still being made dull by the monsoon season,” an exporter source said. He expects demand to improve by mid-September, which would allow for stronger domestic steel prices.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for bulk cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), deep-sea origin, import, cfr Bangladesh was $505-515 per tonne on Thursday, up by $5 per tonne from $500-510 per tonne a week earlier.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel scrap, shredded, deep-sea origin, import, cfr Bangladesh was $510-525 per tonne on the same day, also up by $5 per tonne from $505-520 per tonne cfr a week earlier.
Prices for containerized scrap in Bangladesh inched up this week, with a handful of buyers back in the market after the lockdown in search of material.
A deal involving containers of Brazil-origin HMS 1 was heard at $520 per tonne cfr Bangladesh this week, with sources indicating that for HMS 1&2 (80:20), a range of $505-510 per tonne cfr might be workable for buyers.
Offers for containers of Latin American HMS 1&2 (80:20) were heard at $505-508 per tonne cfr this week, while United Kingdom-origin material was offered at $510-515 per tonne cfr.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), containerized, import, cfr Bangladesh was $505-510 per tonne cfr on Thursday, up by $2-5 per tonne from $500-508 per tonne cfr a week earlier.
Shredded scrap was heard to have been offered at $548-550 per tonne cfr Bangladesh this week. Sources said a workable price range for buyers was around $540-550 per tonne cfr.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel scrap, shredded, containerized, import, cfr Bangladesh was $540-550 per tonne on Thursday, widening upward by $5 per tonne from $540-545 per tonne a week earlier.