GMS weekly report on ShipBreaking industry for WEEK 31 of 2011:

A combination of the Euro zone debt crisis and fears for the US economy saw the European stock market tumble sharply this week and this seemed to filter through to international recycling markets as a reversal in fortunes finally beset the industry after weeks of steady gains.

With the India market driving the summer momentum and with Bangladesh yet to give the official green light to import vessels once again, it was no surprise to see a stall in activity. Many end buyers chose to wait and watch the direction of the market before committing on new high priced and high profile units as they could easily be looking at a softer market come next week and lower purchasing prices as a result.

However, short term fundamentals appear to be promising with upcoming Ramadan holidays and an impending Bangladesh reopening sure to fire up the industry once again despite the wobbles this week. Indeed perhaps a relative dearth of summer candidates as owners and brokers head off on holidays intent on leaving business in the background could leave those available candidates in pole position to receive premiums.

For week 31 of 2011, GMS demo rankings for the week are as below:

Country	Market Sentiment	Gen Cargo Prices	Tanker Prices
India	Cautious	USD 520/lt kit	USD545/ltldt
Pakistan	Bullish	USD500/ltldt	USD525/ltldt
China	Stable	USD455/ltldt	USD465/ltldt
Bangladesh	Cautious	N/A	N/A

Source: Steel Guru (Sourced from GMS Weekly). 10 august 2011

http://www.steelguru.com/international_news/GMS_weekly_report_on_ship_breaking_industry_for_WEEK_31/219226.html