Daily Market Note — 2026-09-26

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

The read

Two fresh physical trades give Pakistan’s imported shredded market a firmer anchor near $417/MT CFR Port Qasim, while current supplier offers sit somewhat higher at $420–425/MT. Separately, the largest geopolitical development of the day arrived after Friday’s market close: press reports say the United States rejected an Iranian proposal for a path to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, though shipping and oil data available so far still reflect Friday’s readings.

Pakistan’s imported shredded market is trading with a recent verified range of $416–420/MT CFR Qasim, following two reported ex-UK cargoes (roughly 5,000 and 1,500 tonnes) that cleared around $417/MT. Current ex-UK and EU offers are running somewhat above that, in the $420–425/MT range. Pakistan domestic finished-steel sentiment stayed weak on shredded.

Key moves

• Pakistan imported shredded — recent physical range $416–420/MT CFR, with two fresh cargoes near $417/MT; current supplier offers $420–425/MT.
• Currency and fuel — the Pakistani rupee’s latest completed interbank close is 277.16 per US dollar (unchanged over the weekend); petrol rose to PKR 391.30/litre while diesel eased to PKR 408.53/litre.
• Benchmark watch — a daily Pakistan shredded assessment launched earlier this month remains active but has not yet published a public numeric value.

Freight and shipping

• Strait of Hormuz: press reports say the United States rejected an Iranian proposal for a seven-day path toward reopening the strait, announced over the weekend — a notable escalation in the ongoing dispute over the waterway.
• Vessel traffic: the latest available reading (Thursday) showed roughly nine trackable commodity vessels transiting, against a ten-day average of about eighteen — still well below average; this reading predates the weekend development and has not yet been updated.
• Oil prices: Friday’s Brent crude settlement was around $104/bbl — also a reading from before the weekend’s diplomatic development.
• Reading the signals together: with markets closed over the weekend, neither shipping traffic nor oil prices yet reflect the latest political development; both are due for a fresh test as carriers and insurers reopen for the week.
• Port Qasim: remained operational with active container handling; no cancellations reported.

Supplier markets

• Offer levels: current ex-UK and EU shredded offers of $420–425/MT sit a moderate distance above the freshest verified physical trades — a gap that market participants will be watching to see whether it narrows or widens as the week progresses.
• UAE: Dubai’s temporary restriction on specified iron, copper and aluminium scrap exports remains active through 8 October 2026 unless changed, exempted, or renewed.
• EU: the current European Commission draft would exclude Pakistan from EU metal-waste export authorisation after 21 May 2027 if adopted unchanged. The public consultation on the draft remains open until 16 October 2026. This remains a draft position, not current law. EU exports of e-waste to non-OECD countries are already prohibited.

Non-ferrous snapshot

Official three-month LME prices from Friday: copper around $14,647/MT, zinc around $3,952/MT, aluminium around $3,267/MT, nickel around $16,230/MT, and lead around $1,929/MT.

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 (ISRI 211) — processed scrap of consistent size and density, the main containerised grade into Pakistan.
• 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.