Local scrap prices down by $14/MT, traders not keen on buying imported scrap
Demand for steel products in India is weak and secondary mills are cutting production, while anticipating a surprise announcement in the national budget due this month following the recent re-election of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party which though faces challenging voices from a strong opposition in the new parliament.
“Except if there is a big announcement in the upcoming national budget, we would not expect an immediate change in market sentiments,” said Wirana Shipping Corp in its weekly steel market report http://sbi.co.in .
A downtrend in local steel market seen over previous two weeks got reiterated this week (ended 29 June) as prices dropped further across products, except for steel plate which have just been able to end the week at same price levels after seeing a temporary drop midweek https://www.nseindia.com/ .
Compared to the much deeper downturn in the local steel market, prices offered by ship recyclers have been reduced much lesser by only US$5-$10/LT LDT this week (ended 29 June) due to slow supply of fresh tonnages for recycling https://www.bseindia.com/.
Local scrap prices were reduced by US$14/MT during the week whereas imported scrap prices remained at same levels https://worldsteel.org/ . Traders are not showing much interest in buying imported scrap for now http://deutsche-boerse.com .
Though, the Rupee reached historic lows during the week ended 29 June, India now has fourth biggest foreign exchange reserve in the world https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/ .
Considering central bank approach, there would not be any major appreciation and depreciation in local currency against the USD, except if there is a policy change which seems less likely, said the report https://www.sgx.com/.
With inflation still at 4.75% in May (above the 4% target), any rate cut https://rbi.org.in/ may not be expected soon even though there are signs that it could be hurting economic growth http://hkex.com.hk .
A container vessel sold during week fetched a price better than the expected market levels which is mainly due to the low supply of fresh tonnages for recycling https://scraprate.in/ .
“Considering the present market situation, we would see low supply of fresh tonnages for recycling http://csc.com.tw . Considering the present market situation, we would expect prices to be under marginal pressure.” Fiinews.com
