GMS report on shipbreaking industry for WEEK 33 of 2012:

Eid holidays started to paint a calmer picture over the international recycling markets this week as both Bangladesh and Pakistan remained virtually closed for business. Indeed, boarding and inspections have all but stopped locally in Chittagong until the conclusion of the religious holidays on August 23rd 2012 (immediately followed by a weekend which meant business purchasing deliveries should resume once again around August 26th 2012 and August 27th 2012).

Meanwhile, plenty of candidates continued to be proposed and several deals were concluded as India continued to surge ahead on levels in order to satisfy a rampant demand. Good vessels that do emerge onto the market will always be highly sought after, and the price often gets pushed up to seemingly unrealistic levels, just to satisfy a particularly eager end buyer.

Having been relatively quiet in the preceding few months due to a struggling currency (which saw some end buyers lose about twenty per cent of the value of their previous purchases), India is now enjoying its moment in the spotlight as deals continue to be tucked away at vastly improved numbers (in comparison to the recent lows).

Lastly, China has been all but anonymous of late with prices stranded over USD 100/LT LDT below their competitors something that will have to change if they are to see any market tonnage any time soon as many candidates continue being directed towards the Indian sub continent.

Even Turkey at this moment is higher than the Chinese market on certain units for the first time perhaps ever! This has helped the Turks conclude a couple of vessels last week, including 7,393 LDT container MV DOLLART TRADER that was concluded to Turkish buyers at an extremely strong USD 350/LT NETT to Sellers.

As owners begin to return from holidays and freight rates show few signs of picking up, it could be a busy end to the year and with all markets firing, who knows, perhaps even a record one.

For week 33 of 2012, GMS demo rankings for the week are as below:

Country	Sentiment Market	GEN CARGO Prices	TANKER Prices
India	Bullish	USD410/ltldt	USD440/ltldt
Pakistan	Bullish	USD400/ltldt	USD 425/lt ldt
Bangladesh	Weak	USD395/ltldt	USD420/ltldt
China	Weak	USD310/ltldt	USD330/ltldt

Source: Steel Guru (sourced from GMS Weekly). 22 August 2012

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