After a bumper week of (speculative) sales last week
around, it was a rather quieter week in terms of new deals, as demand and
prices continued to heat up across the sub continent markets.
India has seen its currency stabilize of late
something that has led to far more end buyers keen to return to the bidding
table to acquire tonnage once again. Local steel plate prices remain volatile
as ever and cash buyers will have to decide whether to offload their inventory
if (they feel) the market has peaked, or hold for a little while longer in the
hope of further gains.
Pakistani end buyers began to realize that their
prices would have to improve if they were improve despite to stand any chance
of competing with their Indian and Bangladeshi competitors. Numbers Rupee
alarms. have indeed improved accordingly and several units have been sold
locally despite, at least two cash buyer VLCCs remaining unsold at present.
The major concern for the week surrounded the failings
of the Pakistan Rupee. For some time the currency had been stranded at a less
than impressive 107 to the US Dollar before this week, alarmingly depreciating
to PKR 108 and finally PKR 109 to the USD. A certain sense of panic is beginning
to take hold in Pakistan and it may be that we see numbers tail off in the
coming weeks, unless the local government can intervene, to stabilize the
currency (as was the case in India).
Meantime, elections have been announced in Bangladesh
for January 5 th of 2014, as a result of which, a select group of end buyers
has been gambling on the fact that the continued political instability,
strikes, and blockades, might contribute to a rise in steel prices and are
stockpiling their yards accordingly.
Finally, China continued to underwhelm for another
week, despite the seemingly constant flow of tonnage from local owners to
yards, as part of the government incentive to keep shipbuilding and ship
recycling active.
Source: steel guru. 3 December 2013
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