Daily Market Note — 2026-09-17

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

The read

Pakistan’s imported shredded market held its recent level for a sixth session while Gulf shipping risk deepened to a fresh low even as oil eased for a second straight session — a genuine divergence between the freight-risk and oil-price legs of the same story.

No fresh Pakistan shredded transaction was reported through the week, leaving the market anchored around $418/MT CFR Port Qasim with a recent range of $417–420/MT and asks near $420, premium targets $425. Strait of Hormuz commodity-vessel crossings fell further to three, down from four the prior session and well below the ten-day average of eighteen — a fresh low for the current episode. Brent crude eased to around $105.6/bbl, continuing a second consecutive session of softer oil prices as additional Saudi crude flowed through Oman, easing some immediate supply concerns even as the vessel-traffic count kept falling. Turkey’s imported scrap market remained firm regionally, with market commentary describing levels approaching or above $400/MT depending on grade. Fastmarkets separately issued a procedural notice today addressing earlier publication-date errors on some South Asian scrap price assessments, ahead of the first assessment under its new Friday-only publication schedule for Pakistan, due tomorrow.

Key moves

• Pakistan imported shredded — no new transaction for a sixth straight session; anchor holds near $418/MT CFR Port Qasim; working range $417–420/MT CFR; asks near $420, premium targets $425.
• Turkey — imported scrap markets remained firm on regional commentary, with levels described as approaching or above $400/MT depending on grade and publisher.
• Currency and fuel — the Pakistani rupee traded around 277 to the US dollar, essentially stable; Pakistan announced additional fuel-conservation measures alongside a further increase in retail petrol and diesel prices.

Freight and shipping

Hormuz vessel traffic reached a fresh low for the episode even as oil prices eased — the two indicators moved in opposite directions today.

• Strait of Hormuz: commodity-vessel crossings fell to three, from four the prior session, against a ten-day average of eighteen.
• Oil: Brent traded around $105.6/bbl in early trading, easing for a second consecutive session as additional Saudi crude moved through Oman, offsetting some immediate supply concern.
• Destination operations: Port Qasim’s official shipping programme was updated today; recent sessions have shown active container and bulk vessel operations with no reported cancellations.
• Carrier surcharges: the revised Far East Asia → Pakistan peak-season surcharge of $2,000 per 40ft/45ft container remains in force for most covered origins, alongside the Middle East → Pakistan surcharge of $2,050 per 20ft and $3,500 per 40ft/45ft.

Supplier markets

A temporary UAE restriction on ferrous, copper, and aluminium scrap exports remains scheduled through 8 October. The European Commission’s move away from a previously discussed 15% aluminium-scrap export duty, in favour of relying on the existing Waste Shipment Regulation framework for future non-OECD scrap controls, remains unchanged today — this is not a new export ban. The Commission’s first published list of authorised non-OECD countries under that regulation is still due by 21 November 2026, and the EU’s separate ban on e-waste exports to non-OECD countries has been in force since 1 January 2025. Fastmarkets’ Pakistan shredded index remains on its new weekly (Friday) publication schedule, with the first assessment under the revised schedule due tomorrow, 18 September.

Non-ferrous snapshot

Overnight LME reference levels: copper traded around $14,250/t, up roughly 1% on the session; zinc traded around $3,810/t, down roughly 0.5%, with exchange inventory rising; lead three-month traded around $1,882/t, up roughly 0.3%. Aluminium, nickel, and tin references were broadly steady session on session.

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.
• Backwardation — when a metal’s cash (immediate-delivery) price trades above its three-month forward price, usually signalling tight near-term supply.
• 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.