Slowed finished steel sales, high steel inventories, cash liquidity issues and production cuts have weakened sentiment for Indian imported scrap, sources tell Kallanish.

"Buyers from Monday through Wednesday were holding their purchases for scrap,” says a source. “Offers went down consecutively; however, on Thursday, due to a brief uptick in local billet prices, imported scrap offers also increased marginally, and we witnessed a surge in enquiries as well. But bids continue to remain the same.”

Offers for UK-, EU- and US-origin shredded scrap dropped to $415-418/tonne cfr Nhava Sheva and Mundra. A few thousand tonnes of shredded were booked at $416-417/t cfr Mundra on Wednesday and Thursday, while bookings in Nhava Sheva were made at $417-418/t cfr.

A few offers were also heard at $412-415/t cfr Nhava Sheva and $420-422/t cfr ICD Ludhiana; however, no bookings were confirmed at these levels.

A Punjab-based source informed booking UK-origin shredded at $415-416/t cfr ICD Ludhiana on Wednesday.

Offers for UK-origin busheling were heard at $438-442/t cfr Mundra and Nhava Sheva.

Deals for Paraguay-origin HMS 80:20 were concluded at $412-415/t cfr Mundra and Punjab. Chilean-origin HMS 80:20 in 25-tonne container offers were voiced at $412-415/t cfr Mundra, whereas 40-foot container offers were heard at $382-385/t cfr Mundra.

Brazil-origin HMS in 21-22t and 25-26t containers was offered at $403-405/t and $410-412/t cfr, respectively.

Yemen-origin HMS in 25t containers quote was noted at $405/t cfr Mundra and Yemen-origin HMS/bundles mix offers were voiced at $400/t cfr Mundra. Offers for UK-origin sheared were concluded at $405-410/t cfr Mundra.

Deals for West African-origin HMS 80:20 were concluded at $405-407/t cfr Mundra in 20-21t containers. West African-origin HMS 80:20 in 22-23t and 25-26t containers was booked at $408-410/t and $415-417/t cfr, respectively.

Billet offers were voiced on Thursday at INR 46,500-46,700/t ($558.64) ex-Ahmedabad. Offers for Bellari-origin sponge iron pellet 78-80% Fe are noted at around INR 31,500-31,700/t dap Gandhi Dham, whereas 78-80% Fe lumps offers were noted at INR 32,500-33,000/t dap Gandhi Dham.

“The week began with very muted sentiment till Wednesday; however, from Thursday onwards, mills raised their semi-finished prices ... Not on the back of demand but because of an uptick in raw material prices, namely iron ore, coal and sponge iron,” a mill source informs. “Mills have a lot of inventories and I believe most of them [mills] would be cutting their production also.”

“Furthermore, there is a cash liquidity issue as inventories are piling up and sales are still down. These all have impacted imported scrap intake in India,” he adds.

Offers for ship scrap from containers are heard at $580/light displacement tonne (ldt). Scrap from dry bulkers and tankers is hovering at $540/ldt and $560/ldt, respectively.