GMS weekly report on shipbreaking industry for WEEK 30 of 2013:

With summer, monsoon months and Ramadan in full swing, the Indian sub-continent recycling markets were not a pretty picture of health and vibrancy. Steel prices were shattered not only in India this week, but also came off in Bangladesh whilst appetite to acquire new units largely waned.

Firstly, in India, where there load been some hope on the horizon that the worst had been seen in terms of currency depreciation as government intervention last week, more or less, put a halt to the sliding Rupee.

However, a 10 day consecutive slide in local steel plate price saw over USD 20/LT LDT knocked off vessel prices as most end buyers retreated from the negotiating table to wait and watch the developments in this coming week.

Understandably, most end buyers were yearning for some stability to return to the markets before committing on new tonnage, but this is leaving cash buyers and some owners with tonnage in an understandably precarious and awkward position.

Whilst India dealt with the fallout from this most recent steel price crisis, so did Pakistan and Bangladesh suffer with dismal demand and a fall on the local steel plate prices, affecting prices for ships and respective demand locally.

With these most recent market falls filtering through to international ship pricing, previously reluctant owners may decide to withdraw vessels altogether, either choosing to lay them up or find further voyages, before selling for improved rates in the Q4 of this year.

The one positive for the week concerned improving markets in both China and Turkey. Those vessels positioned in either the Far East or Med regions may no longer be analyzing voyage costs, as the pricing gap with the sub-continent markets continues to narrow further.

For week 30 of 2013, GMS demo rankings for the week are as below:

Country	Market Sentiment	GEN CARGO Prices	TANKER prices
Bangladesh	Weak	USD 375/lt ldt	USD 410/lt ldt
India	Weak	USD 375/lt ldt	USD 410/lt ldt
Pakistan	Weak	USD 375/lt ldt	USD 410/lt ldt
China	Weak	USD 325/lt ldt	USD 340/lt ldt

Source: steel guru. 30 July 2013

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