After a weeklong spurt in containerised imported scrap bookings last week, Indian buyers have halted purchases this week on the back of sluggish sentiment amid falling billet and rebar demand. Offers are, however, roughly stable on-week despite the fall in bookings, sources inform Kallanish.

“Demand for rebar and billet were good till Tuesday … but the market became silent from Wednesday onwards,” says a mill source. “This fall made buyers cautious and all mills have sufficient inventories to carry out their operations smoothly.”

There is huge availability of imported scrap in the market following the multiple bulk bookings done recently. This week, offers for bulk HMS 1&2 were heard at $425-430/tonne cfr Kandla and Chennai and bids were noted at $410-415/t cfr; whereas, offers and bids for shredded pegged at $445-450/t and $430-435/t cfr, respectively. No deals were heard concluded this week.

Offers for UK- and EU-origin containerised shredded scrap are noted stable on-week at $450-455/t cfr Nhava Sheva, Mundra and Kandla, whereas US-origin shredded offers are heard at $445-450/t cfr India.

An Indian steel major procured 1,000 tonnes of US-origin shredded at $445-449/t cfr Nhava Sheva on Monday. Punjab-based mills booked shredded at $450-455/t cfr and Gujarat-based mills procured limited quantities at $452-455/t cfr Mundra.

Offers for Singapore-origin PNS also remained unchanged this week, with quotes hovering at $475-477/t cfr India. A source informs that Punjab-based mills booked around 5,000-7,000t of PNS at these levels this week. UK-origin offers were noted at $470-475/t cfr Mundra; however, buyers’ bids were heard at $460/t cfr levels.

After a long hiatus, UAE-origin HMS1 scrap was offered to the Indian market. Market participants report offers at $430-440/t cfr India but no bookings were heard. “UAE authorities continue to restrict scrap exports, but despite that, some 10-20 containers are releasing daily,” informs a source. “Big exporters from UAE are still refraining to offer scrap; we are getting offers from small- and medium-sized traders, but buyers are still in denial to book cargoes from UAE.”

Offers for UK-origin HMS shear are noted stable at $430-435/t cfr Mundra. Punjab-based mills booked Yemen-origin HMS at $430-435/t cfr India. Offers for West African HMS – in 25t container – are heard at $440/t cfr Mundra, and West African HMS in 20-21t container at $430/t cfr India. Yemen-origin bundles were booked at $390/t cfr India.

West Africa-origin (Mozambique, Congo and Senegal) HMS 80:20 offers are registered at $440/t cfr Mundra, whereas readily available cargo offers are heard at $450/t cfr.

Offers for ship scrap from containers are noted at $570/light displacement tonne (ldt). Scrap from dry bulkers and tankers is hovering at $550/ldt and $560/ldt, respectively.