There
was no letting up this week in the misery currently being endured by the Indian
ship recycling market. The Indian Rupee was routinely trading at excess INR 60
to the US Dollar for a majority of the week, while local steel plate prices
continued to fluctuate wildly. For that reason, few end buyers were willing to
discuss levels on new or existing tonnages as local demand for vessels seemed
to all but dry up.
With
both Bangladesh and Pakistan likely to be ahead of India in the foreseeable
future, it may be a bleak few months ahead unless the (Indian) currency settles
well below the INR 60 mark to the USD again, and incites more confidence from
local recyclers to negotiate.
With
ship-steel also starting to stockpile at local yards (as in China), most Indian
end buyers have yet to shift their expensive inventories for the year, before
moving onto the new (and hopefully from their perspective) cheaper purchases.
That
current rates on scrap steel remain so dire (coupled with the fact that end
buyers have purchased in US dollars and have to sell in Indian rupees) has only
served to heighten concerns locally, with almost all buyers losing significant
amounts of money, from vessels purchased over the past few years at least.
Source: steel guru. 11 July 2013
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