TDC Ventures

Daily Market Note — 2026-09-19

4 min read

Daily Market Note — 2026-09-19

Market commentary on the global ferrous scrap trade. Not trading advice.

The read

A quiet Saturday: no fresh Pakistan shredded transaction was publicly verified, so the market keeps leaning on Friday’s evidence. Regional signals pull in different directions — Turkey firm, India softer — while Gulf shipping stays far below normal and non-ferrous metals firmed into the weekend.

Pakistan’s imported shredded market remains anchored around $418/MT CFR Port Qasim, with a recent verified range of $417–420/MT. A publisher’s Europe-origin containerised shredded assessment for 18 September is now dated, but its value sits behind a paywall. With no Saturday print, the most useful read is Friday’s close plus live buyer and supplier indications.

Key moves

  • Pakistan imported shredded — no new transaction; anchor near $418/MT CFR, range $417–420/MT. Domestic Pakistani shredded and billet sentiment were described as weak, rebar as moderate.
  • Turkey — imported scrap described as approaching a three-month high on tight supply and higher freight.
  • India — a visible domestic scrap index (Mandi Gobindgarh end-cutting) eased INR 300 to INR 43,000/MT, a counterpoint to the firm regional narrative.
  • Currency and fuel — the Pakistani rupee closed Friday at 277.25 per US dollar; petrol is PKR 390.79/litre and diesel PKR 424.92/litre after diesel rose PKR 3.47 on 18 September. At this rate a $10/MT move in imported scrap equals roughly PKR 2,772/MT.

Freight and shipping

  • Strait of Hormuz: only four commodity vessels transited on Thursday against a ten-day average of sixteen; three LNG vessels reappeared outside the strait, but overall traffic remains far below normal. Bab el-Mandeb saw 23 transits against an average of 26.
  • Oil workaround: Saudi Arabia plans to move roughly 60 million barrels through ship-to-ship transfers at Sohar, Oman across September and October. It supports Asia-bound crude but does not signal normal container shipping.
  • Global container rates: benchmark China–US East Coast spot rates reached about $10,948 per 40ft and bunker fuel about $901.50/MT — a different trade lane, not a guide to Pakistan freight.
  • Carrier surcharges: the $2,000 peak-season surcharge on covered Far East 40ft/45ft non-spot cargo to Pakistan (now including South Korea) and the Middle East → Pakistan emergency surcharge ($2,050 per 20ft, $3,500 per 40ft/45ft) remain in force.
  • Port Qasim: the latest public shipping programme (18 September) shows active container and coal movements with no listed cancellations.

Supplier markets

  • UAE: Dubai Customs’ temporary ban on specified ferrous, copper and aluminium scrap exports runs from 10 June to 8 October 2026, with possible exemptions, and may renew automatically unless cancelled.
  • EU: the Commission has moved away from a proposed 15% aluminium-scrap export duty toward waste-shipment controls. Reuters reported the proposal could block metal-waste exports to India and other non-OECD countries from May 2027 unless the receiving country secures an exemption for the waste stream. All e-waste exports from the EU to non-OECD countries have been prohibited since 1 January 2025.

Non-ferrous snapshot

Friday’s references: three-month LME copper traded around $14,521/MT (session high $14,572.50), zinc around $3,881.50/MT (+1.9%), lead around $1,911/MT (+1.5%), while nickel sat near $16,265/MT, down about 2.4% on the week. Exchange aluminium was little changed.

Glossary

  • CFR — cost and freight; the seller pays ocean freight to the destination port, the buyer carries insurance and transit risk.
  • Port Qasim — Pakistan’s main deep-water import terminal, near Karachi.
  • Shredded — processed scrap of consistent size and density, the main containerised grade into Pakistan.
  • PSS / ECS — peak season surcharge / emergency contingency surcharge, temporary carrier charges added to base ocean freight, quoted per container.
  • LME 3M — the London Metal Exchange’s three-month forward reference price, the standard benchmark for base-metal scrap formulas.
  • Non-OECD waste-shipment rules — EU regulations governing which countries outside the OECD may receive specified waste exports, including scrap metal, from EU member states.

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