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Daily Market Note — 2026-11-04

4 min read

Daily Market Note — 2026-11-04

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

The read

Still no new Pakistan scrap price: the reference level is the last weekly print, marginally lower, and the next one is due Friday. The CFR Port Qasim shredded price (Fastmarkets MB-STE-0887) was 414.79 USD per tonne for 30 October, down 0.56 (−0.13%) from 415.35 on 23 October, inside the 410–417 band of recent weeks. Fastmarkets publishes it on Fridays only, so it is not a live daily trade print. BigMint reported on 3 November that Pakistan imported ferrous scrap trade levels weakened week on week, citing elevated freight costs and cautious mill buying; that is a publisher’s read of the market, not the index and not a concluded trade. The new input today is a second cut to Pakistani fuel prices.

Key moves

  • Pakistan reference price — 414.79 USD per tonne (30 October); the next datapoint is the Friday 6 November print.
  • Pakistani fuel — Pakistan State Oil lists high-speed diesel at PKR 391.52 a litre and petrol at 369.06 from 4 November, against 395.20 and 374.51 on 3 November (−3.68 and −5.45). Diesel was 402.96 on 2 November. This is a haulage input; it does not automatically lower contracted trucking charges.
  • Currency — the State Bank of Pakistan’s 4 November panel shows the rupee at about PKR 276.70 per US dollar (revaluation rate), almost unchanged from 3 November. Six-month KIBOR stands at 12.42% bid and 12.67% offer, so import financing remains expensive.
  • Oil — ICE front-month Brent was about 103.60 USD a barrel on 3 November, against 104.77 on 2 November and 113.43 on 30 October.
  • Gulf navigation — active US NGA warnings were 19 on 3 November, unchanged; that gauge shows no added Gulf risk.

Freight and shipping

Business Recorder’s Port Qasim report, published 4 November, shows 21 ships at outer anchorage in its reporting period and names four ships expected to berth on 3 November; these are report-period figures, not live movements. Pakistan LNG Limited sought bids for two LNG cargoes for December and January delivery at Port Qasim (Pakistan Today, 4 November), which is an energy-supply item rather than a container-freight signal. Drewry’s latest published World Container Index is still the 29 October release, a global composite and not a Pakistan lane rate. Fastmarkets reported on 14 October that the container vessel GFS Pride, which sank near Hormuz, was carrying steel scrap bound for Pakistan; the scrap tonnage was not established. No current carrier rate or surcharge for Pakistan-bound services was verified. Scrap into Pakistan moves in 20-foot containers at about 25 tonnes, so Pakistan freight comparisons should use that box.

Supplier markets

  • EU — the proposed regime restricting non-hazardous waste exports to non-OECD destinations is scheduled to apply from 21 May 2027. The adopted authorised-country list has not been verified; Pakistan’s status should be checked against the final list, not the draft. This is a medium-term sourcing risk, not a current ban.
  • India — BigMint’s public board shows its domestic melting-scrap marker at INR 33,500 on 4 November, up INR 250 from the day before; its unit and tax basis are not displayed, so it says nothing about Pakistan import prices. India’s DGFT (Public Notice 35/2026-27, 21 October) confirms a conditional pre-shipment inspection exemption for eligible scrap from the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the EU, applied shipment by shipment.
  • Alternative origins — non-EU origins are being compared with EU-origin material; each needs its own export, Basel and destination-import review.
  • UAE — whether Dubai’s scrap-export restrictions remain in force was not re-confirmed.

Non-ferrous snapshot

Official LME prices (Westmetall) for Tuesday 3 November, USD per tonne, cash and three-month: copper 14,110.50 and 14,001.00; aluminium 3,082.00 and 3,042.00; zinc 3,869.00 and 3,810.00. Each cash price is above its three-month price (backwardation of 109.50, 40.00 and 59.00). Metals.dev’s LME-linked feed on 3 November shows nickel 15,500 and lead 1,902, on a different basis from settlements. Exchange prices are references, not scrap prices; scrap pays by assay, recovery 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; published weekly on Fridays.
  • KIBOR — Karachi Interbank Offered Rate, a benchmark for Pakistani lending costs.
  • PSIC — pre-shipment inspection certificate, an Indian requirement for scrap imports, with conditional exemptions.
  • Backwardation — cash trading above the three-month price, often a sign of tight nearby supply.
  • NGA navigation warnings — active maritime warnings published by the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, used here as a rough gauge of Gulf shipping risk.

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