GMS Week 41 – RESISTANCE!

After a brief spike in the markets (which saw a few vessels sold at increasingly firm numbers, some of which even crept past the USD 400/LT mark), there now appears to be a resurging resistance from local Recyclers to improve prices any further.

Indeed, India continues its dispiriting downward descent, with very few open and aggressive Buyers and some (frankly insulting) numbers on show for any working units. The Rupee continues to trade nearly in excess of Rs. 71 against the U.S. Dollar once again, whilst local steel plate prices have yet to gain any significant momentum, to make up for the huge losses that saw over USD 70/LT wiped off vessel prices over the summer months.

As it stands, we expect very few vessels to be heading towards a barren and bleak Alang market – particularly as freight rates in nearly all sectors have been pushing on to an impressive degree.

Pakistan too has talked up a revival in form for several months now, but there is little to show for all of this talk. Instead, the opposite appears to be happening as any time a sale into this market comes close, End Buyers retreat into their shells, as if some form of transactional amnesia seems to be affecting them all.

Even Turkey is struggling in its new found sturdy state, with prices that no Sellers are keen to accept on their units, even though the falling fundamentals have steadied themselves over the recent weeks.

Overall, Bangladesh appears to be the only serious market in operation today, as product finally starts to shift from yards after a long and arduous monsoon season, but even they are starting to scale back numbers as local sentiments and steel prices struggle to recapture previous highs.

For week 41 of 2019, GMS demo rankings / pricing for the week are as below.

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Source: GMS Weekly