With the strike
over in Alang, the domination of the Indian market continued for the week with
ALL of the market sales heading to Bhavnagar shores (with perhaps a Pakistan
option on certain deals, should the market there prove to be competitive enough
prior to delivery).
A number of as is
Singapore deals have also been done, including another Frontline ex OBO, the
FROXT DRIVER (23,500 LDT), but one would imagine that owing to the persistently
poor performance of the Bangladesh market, these are all likely to be India
candidates. India's improved standing came amidst some concerning slides for
the rupee once again. Five days of consecutively poor showings saw the rupee
hit a three week low at 54 to the dollar, before improving marginally to finish
the week at 53.8.
The turbulent form
that the rupee has displayed over the past year has seen ship recyclers losing
about 10% of the value of their inventories over the corresponding period. Thus,
whenever the currency suffers an alarming and consistent depreciation, memories
are evoked of the crisis that began in the fourth quarter of 2011 that
eventually saw the currency hit historical, all time lows.
However, Alang
buyers have used this current spike to pick up several high priced deals and
with little tight displayed from archrivals Bangladesh, most end buyers will
see the chance to stock their yards with inventory before the year is out.
Whether the market (or indeed the currency) holds is another question entirely.
Surely if the supply continues at such a furious pace, it is only a matter of
time before plain old demand and supply factors kick in and prices retreat once
again.
China was the major
market movers for the week securing a 9,000 LDT bulker at USD 455/LT LDT (an
improvement of some USD 20 to USD 30/LT LDT from last week). This has finally
given owners a choice to make for geographically positioned units something
that can only be good for the industry going forward into the last quarter of
the year.
For week 42 of
2012, GMS demo rankings for the week are as below:
|
Country
|
Market Sentiment
|
GEN CARGO Prices
|
TANKER Prices
|
|
India
|
Bullish
|
USD410/ltldt
|
USD 440/lt ldt
|
|
Pakistan
|
Bullish
|
USD 405/lt ldt
|
USD 435/lt ldt
|
|
Bangladesh
|
Weak
|
USD 390/lt ldt
|
USD 420/lt ldt
|
|
China
|
Bullish
|
USD 340/lt ldt
|
USD 350/lt ldt
|
Source:
Steel Guru. 23 October 2012
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