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Daily Market Note — 2026-10-28

4 min read

Daily Market Note — 2026-10-28

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

The read

No new Pakistan shredded price today; the published level is unchanged and fuel and oil costs edged up. The CFR Port Qasim shredded price (Fastmarkets MB-STE-0887) stands at 415.35 USD per tonne for 23 October, up 1.28 from 414.07 a week earlier; the next weekly print is due Friday 30 October. Shanghai Metals Market lists a Qasim entry dated 27 October but shows no public number, and BigMint’s Europe-origin container entry (27 October) is also not publicly readable, so there is no second price to compare. Today’s moves are in costs rather than prices: Pakistan’s regulator raised the high-speed diesel price, and Brent rose on renewed Middle East supply concerns. Neither has yet shown up in a published scrap price.

Key moves

  • Pakistan fuel — OGRA’s notification sets high-speed diesel at PKR 398.07 per litre from 28 October, up PKR 2.25 (about 0.57%) from PKR 395.82 on 27 October. Whether this changes inland haulage quotes is not established.
  • Pakistan rate and rupee — the State Bank of Pakistan policy rate is 12.00% (raised from 11.50%, effective 27 October); this is a day-one level, not a second increase. The State Bank’s mark-to-market reference was about PKR 276.77 per US dollar on 28 October; it is an accounting reference, not the rate importers’ banks quote.
  • Pakistan imports — SteelOrbis reported on 16 October that September scrap imports were 427,880 tonnes (+18.3% on August, +16.7% on a year earlier), a customs figure for an earlier month rather than a view of current buying.
  • India — BigMint’s public table (28 October) shows melting scrap at INR 33,900 at Mandi Gobindgarh, down 300, with the weight basis and tax treatment not stated; it is not a Pakistan import price.

Freight and shipping

  • Gulf risk — Reuters (28 October) put Brent at 115.69 USD a barrel at 14:42 UTC, up 1.6% on renewed Middle East supply concern, citing a Houthi claim of a refinery strike that Saudi authorities had not immediately confirmed. Active Gulf navigation warnings (NGA) are unchanged at 19, so that gauge does not echo the reported escalation. No carrier war-risk surcharge or insurer exclusion on Pakistan services was reported.
  • Port Qasim — the Port Qasim Authority’s 08:00 programme for 28 October lists three planned sailings and four planned berthings, against one and three the day before. These are tanker, bulk and general-cargo entries and say nothing about container space.
  • Carrier notices — Maersk (28 October) announced Italian and Finnish inland charge changes, and a USD 500 per container cut to its Middle East to West Africa emergency surcharge from 1 November. None of these is a Pakistan-lane charge.
  • Global container index — Drewry’s World Container Index was 4,585 USD per 40-foot container on 22 October, up 2% on the week; it is a global composite, not a Pakistan rate.

Supplier markets

  • EU — the Commission’s initiative record still shows the consultation on the non-OECD authorised-country list closed (16 October) and adoption upcoming with no date. BIR’s reading is that the September draft does not propose Pakistan for ferrous or non-ferrous metal-waste streams; the first list is expected around 21 November and the regime applies from 21 May 2027. It is a draft, not a current ban.
  • Thailand — an official environmental-office report (28 October) said 11 containers were inspected and none fell in the suspected-goods category; a Customs release dated 21 October describes examinations of high-risk metal-scrap containers. Longer-term restrictions remain a proposal.
  • China copper scrap — two secondary reports of China’s January–September copper imports differ by about 491,500 tonnes (SMM 2,366,200 t; a CITIC/CLS republication 1,874,700 t); no customs table has been found to settle it.

Non-ferrous snapshot

Official LME cash prices (Westmetall) for Tuesday 27 October, USD per tonne: copper 14,625 (3-month 14,435), aluminium 3,078 (3,064), zinc 3,927 (3,830), nickel 15,440 and lead 1,900. Reuters (28 October) cited the International Lead and Zinc Study Group’s revised forecast of an 88,000-tonne global refined-zinc deficit for 2026, against a previously expected 271,000-tonne surplus. Exchange prices are references, not scrap prices; scrap pays by assay and the contractual fixing date.

Glossary

  • CFR — cost and freight: the seller pays ocean freight to the destination port; the buyer carries insurance and transit risk.
  • CFR Port Qasim shredded price (MB-STE-0887) — the Fastmarkets index for shredded scrap delivered to Port Qasim, Pakistan’s main deep-water import terminal near Karachi.
  • OGRA — Pakistan’s Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, which notifies fuel prices.
  • Non-OECD authorised-country list — the EU list of non-OECD countries permitted to receive its waste exports under the revised Waste Shipment Regulation.
  • LME — London Metal Exchange, the benchmark venue behind most base-metal scrap pricing formulas.

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