Trade activity remained slow in Pakistani import scrap market mainly amid the continuous liquidity crisis, while most customers have been busy with utility bills payment. Meanwhile import scrap prices in Pakistan have remained largely unchanged or with upward bias in occasional deals over the past week.
Specifically, most offers for ex-EU/UK shredded scrap in containers have been voiced at $420-425/mt CFR, up by $5/mt week on week. However, according to sources, most deals including those for ex-EU/UK and also for UAE origin have been reportedly signed at $418-420/mt CFR, versus $413-415/mt CFR last week. “We estimate around 3,000 mt in total of shredded scrap for different origins have been booked in Pakistan since the end of last week,” a Pakistani trader told SteelOrbis.
At the same time, in the domestic market, most offers for scrap equivalent to shredded have remained at PKR 160,000 ($576/mt) ex-warehouse, the same as last week. Offers for local rebar 10-12 mm of grade 60 have been also maintained stably at PKR 260,000/mt ($936/mt) ex-works, though lower offers at PKR 255,000/mt ($918/mt) ex-works have been also voiced in the market this week. “Pakistani mills have continued to work at not higher than 40 percent capacity utilization rate, and with upcoming Eid holidays business activity will be only worse, with mills reducing further their production and initiating maintenance works at sights,” a market insider said, adding that “Increased production costs due to high electricity and fuel tariffs is another challenge for local steelmakers.”
All prices on Pakistani rupee basis include 18 percent VAT.
$1 = PKR 277.76