GMS report on shipbreaking industry for WEEK 34 of 2012:

An improving market in India set the tempo for a busy week in the ship recycling industry as the number of market deals concluded made it to double digits this week.

The activity though was solely concentrated into the Bangladesh and Indian markets, with both Pakistan and China missing out for another week.

The Turkish market has been very active of late as well, where levels have improved to such an extent over the past few months that they are now ahead of China in the price pecking order. As such, any vessels in the Mediterranean area today are more than likely to be heading to the shores of Turkey.

Pakistan has been actively competing with India over the past few weeks but has always been slightly behind on the numbers. Furthermore, the Gadani specialty of gas free for man entry for tankers (as opposed to hot works in both Bangladesh and India) have been slightly lacking of late, with containers and Handysize / Panamax bulkers being the flavor of the moment.

Meanwhile, Eid holidays have seen both Pakistan and Bangladesh largely offline for the past few weeks, but several perhaps speculative cash buyer deals were concluded into Chittagong, to the surprise of many.

Prices going into September tend to be on the bullish side, so cash buyers may be looking to speculate on a traditional seasonal shift in levels. Going into the final week of August therefore (with deliveries for mid to end September time), levels may be expected to persist.

Key factors going into week 35 will be how an already stuffed Bangladesh market and a keen to compete Pakistan react to the challenge laid down by a voracious India.

For week 34 of 2012, GMS demo rankings for the week are as below:

Country	Sentiment Market	GEN CARGO Prices	TANKER Prices
India	Bullish	USD410/ltldt	USD 435/lt ldt
Pakistan	Bullish	USD 405/lt ldt	USD 425/lt ldt
Bangladesh	Weak	USD 400/lt ldt	USD 425/lt ldt
China	Weak	USD310/ltldt	USD 330/lt ldt

Source: Steel Guru (sourced from GMS Weekly). 28 August 2012

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