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India Fastmarkets calculated its steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India, at $415.83 per tonne on Friday, down from $430.83 per tonne one week earlier.
Deals were heard early in the week for shredded at $415-420 per tonne, but decreased as the week went on, with deals heard at $411 per tonne and then $408 per tonne on Friday.
“The markets are in panic mode. Who knows where it will stop – [prices] could go down by $10-15 per tonne more. There are no prices for scrap this week. Buyers not interested [and] yards not buying while they wait for things to settle. Finished steel prices are down by $70 per tonne,” a seller said.
“Finished prices have dropped have by almost $70 per tonne,” a trader said. “The international market is not clear [but] finished steel prices have moved down. The government is pushing for prices to come down. Projects are becoming unviable so they are pressing steelmakers to reduce prices. There may be better sentiment after the Chinese New Year [on February 11].”
A mill source added: “We are out of the market. Prices may reach a bottom before the Chinese New Year.”
Some market participants expected prices to move up because they had reached their lowest point.
“There was a minor rise by $5 per tonne. After the correction, there will be reasons for buyers to come back,” a second seller said, adding: “We can’t trade because we can’t get containers [for freight].”
Another market participant said that prices had moved up this week after finding a floor in the wake of recent falls.
After reaching a multi-year high of $475.99 per tonne on January 14, prices on the Turkish scrap market, the global trendsetter, continued to move downward.
The daily index for steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, fell to $407.95 per tonne by Friday, from $432.61 per tonne on January 25.
The weekly price assessment for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India, was $320-360 per tonne on Friday, down from $360-400 per tonne the previous week.
HMS prices moved downward in line with the falls in Indian shredded prices and the HMS prices on international markets.
Pakistan On the Pakistan market, the latest deals also confirmed a lower market level, mirroring the downward movement on the Turkish market.
Fastmarkets calculated its weekly steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Port Qasim, Pakistan, at $422.71 per tonne on Friday, down from $433.67 per tonne a week earlier.
Deals were heard at $420 and $425 per tonne this week, down from $430-435 per tonne last week.
One market participant said that there were hardly any offers on the market this week, after prices had fallen.
“There is no strength in the market,” a trader said. “Customers are just not buying.”