Posted on 07 Aug 2024
Bangladesh is currently experiencing significant political turmoil (see Kallanish passim). With the Prime Minister's resignation, steel industry participants are concerned about the normalisation of the situation and the resumption of scrap bookings.
Kallanish has connected with industry participants in Bangladesh to understand the situation. According to their insights, an interim government is expected to be formed this week, with business activities likely to return to normal by the end of the week or early next week.
"We have received communication from the likely interim government that calm will be restored soon, and shipments to our market should continue as usual by Thursday or Friday. However, given the situation, we expect things to normalise by next week," remarks an international scrap trader based in Dubai who sells to the Bangladeshi market.
Another trader adds: "It has been almost a month of chaos, and business activities have come to a standstill. But as we progress into August, things will improve, and we will resume our selling activities as usual."
Market participants are hopeful that after a month-long lull in scrap and rebar demand, buyers will begin restocking soon, which should support scrap prices from Brazil and Australia, key scrap exporters to Bangladesh this year.
"BSRM is set to commence commercial operations at its new Mirasarai re-rolling plant within the next one to two months. The plant will also produce steel wires, reducing the country's dependency on imports. An industry expert in Dhaka notes, 'With the startup of this plant, we can expect an increase in the company’s scrap demand.”
The latest offers for HMS scrap of Latin American and Australian origin were around $410-414/t, while UAE-origin HMS 1 scrap was at $420-422/t cfr Chattogram.
Source:Kallanish
