31 August 2011

GMS weekly report on INDIAN shipbreaking industry for WEEK 34 of 2011:

Indian market highlights:

  • Majority above dry fetching above 500/Ton.
  • Confusing signs.
  • Steel plate price and Indian Rupee weaken

Buying Resumes……..But Is It Speculative?

After the diminished activity of recent weeks and the comparatively weaker collection of sales into the local market this week Alang recyclers seemed to have gathered around the bidding tables to commit a few units at surprising (and marginally) firmer levels. As the week ended, offers for a healthy majority of the dry cargo tonnage had stumbled well North of the USD 500 per tonne mark.

However, the finning of prices remains puzzling since not only was there no improvement in local steel plate prices to back up the increase (in fact a small drop was reported towards the end of the week), but the Indian Rupee too devalued against the US Dollar.

As such, other than a healthy possibility of speculative purchasing from a few cash buyers, little remains justified for the prices offered.

The highlight of the week was the sale of M/V DRUMMOND VOYAGER at a strong USD 535/LT LDT however a bulk of the premium price could be attributed to the fact that the vessel would (reportedly) have between 400 to 450 tonnes of fuel onboard at the time of delivery. Additionally, reefer M/V SEDA too fetched a healthy USD 532/LT LDT, thanks to the 200 Tons of IFO upon delivery.

Notwithstanding the prices of the fixtures today, the real test of the transaction would be how these deals fared at the time of the physical delivery of the vessels.

Source: GMS Weekly. 29 August 2011

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