GMS weekly report on shipbreaking industry for WEEK 7 of 2013:

The resistance on prices and buying that has been witnessed over the past few weeks particularly in India was once again evident this week, despite cash buyer speculation that was once again, taking center stage.

Many of the high priced deals concluded in January are now starting to deliver and for those who had banked on a market upswing amidst a frantic buying month, the pain was starting to be felt especially on those vessels arriving without an end buyer in place.

Indeed, if cash buyers were not struggling to get their end buyers to perform, on the whole there were some significant hits being taken across the board - particularly on the raft of larger container vessels purchased into the high 460s and 470s/LT LDT only last month. While certain vessels are being taken over by cash buyer crews at anchorage and hoping to idle for a potential market upswing in order to justify their speculative purchases other (less scrupulous) buyers are simply renegotiating deals down to prevailing levels so as to minimize losses.

The scene is most difficult of all in India, where the Indian Rupee has once again started to depreciate back towards INR 54 to the US Dollar, and steel prices faced another uphill struggle in order to gain parity with recent acquisitions / expectations.

The spotlight therefore fell heavily onto Pakistan and Bangladesh (with China out of action) whose performances were needed in order to deflect attention from India. Many cash buyer vessels began to be diverted away from India, as a large number of end buyers in Alang simply even refused to come forward and make offers.

Minimal activity in China owing to the New Year holidays heightened the expectation that upon reopening, the Chinese could add some much needed impetus and urgency into the market.

For week 07 of 2013, GMS demo rankings for the week are as below:

Country	Market	GEN CARGO Prices	TANKER Prices
Bangladesh	Cautious	USD 400/ltldt	USD 425/ltldt
Pakistan	Cautious	USD 390/ltldt	USD 420/ltldt
India	Weak	USD 385/ltldt	USD 420/ltldt
China	Bullish	USD 375/ltldt	USD 400/ltldt

Source: Steelguru. 19 February 2013.

http://www.steelguru.com/international_news/GMS_weekly_report_on_ship_breaking_industry_for_WEEK_7/302401.html