Even though the Chinese market was absent from the bidding tables this week (owing to their New Year holidays), it remained a busy time for buyers in the Indian sub continent as a wide variety of vessels were
finally concluded at impressive numbers.
The BM fleet was finally committed under auction to one buyer who was prepared to pay USD 20.48 million EI\T BLOC, with delivery in an array of locations, to satisfy virtually all delivery options. The fleet of
tweens of varying ages and sizes will have to be taken over as is where is, in a process that has taken almost one year to reach its conclusion.
The speculation started to ramp up once again in India with the March budget now firmly on the horizon and demand improving for prompt ships locally. As ever, Pakistan was following hot on the heels of their Indian neighbors and both markets concluded a number of vessels in a busy week.
Bangladesh by contrast suffered another dull week with local levels coming nowhere near to matching cash buyer expectations. A slight reversal in steel prices and an ongoing concern over local currencies, and banks and the supply of US dollars has led to a far greater caution when bidding on Bangladeshi bound tonnage.
The reality is that owners will have to be patient when delivering their vessels to Chittagong - the process may no longer be as straightforward or as timely as in Pakistan or India, especially considering the new regulations and inspections on vessels that have been enforced. The import tax also remains in Chittagong with no settlement yet between government and ship recyclers, but what is clear is that the market IS open to import vessels once again, and several units have been beached over this most recent tide January 25th 2012 to January 27th 2012.
China of course was noticeably absent from proceedings due to New Year holidays, but will be expected to pick up where they left off at levels firmly competitive with the sub cont.
For week 04 of 2012, GMS demo rankings for the week are as below:
| Country | Market Sentiment | Gen Cargo Prices | Tanker Prices |
| India | Bullish | USD 485/lt ldt | USD 505/lt ldt |
| Pakistan | Bullish | USD 475/lt ldt | USD 500/lt ldt |
| Bangladesh | Weak | USD 470/lt ldt | USD 495/lt ldt |
| China | Cautious | USD 420/lt ldt | USD 440/lt ldt |
Source: Steel Guru. (Sourced from GMS Weekly). 01 Feb 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment