Majors in 2nd Week of May

News Updated: 24 May 2022

Steel Scrap Market Pricing Updates

• Pakistani importers had a new deal for five thousand tons of shredded scrap of British origin for $560 to $567 per ton CFR.
• After the Eid holidays, importers of Bangladesh were again in the market for bulk bookings of scrap at reduced prices.
• There was a fall in the prices of scrap. As expected by Indian buyers that when Turkish mills might be in-market for deep-sea bookings, prices will come down. Turkish mills had booked scrap metal from the Baltic Sea and the US at a declined rate. A Turkish mill has finalized a deal of HMS 1 & 2 for the numbers of 15000 tons at the rate of 490 USD/MT.
  In the 2nd week of May, a more successful deal by Turkish Mills for HMS 1 & 2 for the weight of 18-20 thousand tons at a more declining rate of 480 dollars per ton from the UK.
• Prices of Japanese steel scrap have fallen in the domestic & foreign markets. But the local market remained more suitable because it has better prices than the foreign market. Consumers of Taiwan have scrap bookings at 460-470 USD/MT CFR.
• Pig iron imports have increased. Brazil is the major exporter of American pig iron, and Russia is the 2nd.
• Copper prices have had a remarkable decline and reached to low-level. The nickel prices have a fall of 6% due to low copper prices showing a significant decrease compared to last year.
  Reason:
  Copper prices have decreased due to a fall in demand, especially in China. It is consuming 50% of the world’s consumption.

• Prices of rebar have decreased in the local market of China.
  Reason:
  Lockdown in China to control Covid.
  Excessive rainfall halted the construction.

America lifted Steel Scrap Duty on Ukrainian Import.

• America has removed the duty on Ukrainian imported steel scrap for 1 year while the European Commission had suspended anti-dumping duty on certain imports of Ukraine ironing board, steel tubes, and hot-rolled flat steel products affected from April 2022.

India Decreasing GST on Reprocessing of Scrap

• Dr. Bhagwat Karad finance minister at IMRC has considered decreasing GST on reprocessing of steel scrap from 18 to 5 percent.
  Effects:
  Scrap recycling will overcome the scarcity of semiconductors.
  Aim to increase the number of recycling units.
  Focus on the full utilization of recycled scrap in all the production processes.
  It has anticipated that India will become a leading nation with the target of eliminating carbon
  emissions by the end of this decade

Investment and Development

• Sinosteel of China has signed a mining project LOBI IRON ORE in partnership with the Ministry of Cameroon. Its location is in the Kribi area near the Kribi water port in West Africa. The topology condition of the land is more suitable as there is an abundance of natural gas and water reservoirs. Sinosteel has approval after a struggle of more than a decade followed by a license for the project. This project will have millions of tons of magnetite with very low degradation.

Productivity of China’s Hot-Rolled Coil

• The productivity level of China’s hot-rolled coil has remained high compared to the last few months. According to sources, it has recorded more than 3 million tons with rising of 1.6% according to sources.
  Reason:
  The functioning of the Chinese mills has started again in northern areas.
  Effect:
  Prices of Chinese HRC will decrease this week due to more supply and less demand