Ship Recyclers Endure Another Lackluster Week

Weak pricing, damp demand, and dithered sentiments characterized another lackluster week in the ship recycling industry on the Indian sub-continent, reports cash buyer GMS.

Sales ground to a virtual halt this week with activity registering at some of the lowest levels witnessed for nearly a decade.

As levels declined by over USD 100/LDT since the peaks of 2024, a majority of the marginal sales are reliably taking place below USD 500/LDT on nearly all vessels and into all markets.

Bangladesh and Pakistan remain at the bottom of the sub-continent rankings due to economic deficiencies that are leaving available L/Cs starting to dither and a mounting disinterest to negotiate even when the opportunity arises.

Meanwhile, India pigeonholes its collection of Hong Kong Convention sales from the likes of MSC over the recent weeks, even though highly sought after containers are below the USD 500/LDT mark on a delivered basis.

Turkey remains marooned with weak sentiments, weaker supply and a whole lot of lingering Lira and steel concerns of their own.

Despite Indian and Pakistani currencies remaining relatively unchanged this week, both Bangladesh and Turkey recorded noteworthy declines this week. Even local steel plate prices flatlined in Bangladesh and Pakistan, with India partially mimicking their performances and Chinese plate continues to fall again.

Pakistan and Indian recyclers, plagued by cheap Chinese steel over the past few months, have themselves chosen to abstain from buying, fearful of further market falls amidst the ongoing wars. As freight markets continue to perform unseasonably well – even if dry bulk has cooled off lately – it seems there will simply not be enough supply for the recycling markets through the remainder of the year - if not beyond well into Q1 2025, says GMS. This may give sub-continent markets the time needed to stabilize until the expected deluge of tonnage eventually transpires.

GMS demo rankings / pricing for week 42 of 2024 are: