TDC Ventures

Daily Market Note — 2026-09-27

4 min read

Daily Market Note — 2026-09-27

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

The read

Pakistan’s imported shredded market held its recent shape over the weekend: physical trades near $417/MT CFR Port Qasim against supplier offers still running a touch higher at $420–425/MT. On the geopolitical side, Iran said Sunday that diplomacy remains the only route to resolving the Strait of Hormuz dispute, a day after press reports said the United States had rejected an Iranian proposal for a path to reopening the strait — but shipping and oil data available so far still reflect Friday’s readings, with no confirmed reopening agreement in place.

Pakistan’s imported shredded market continues to trade 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 remain in the $420–425/MT range for a second straight session. Pakistan domestic finished-steel demand stayed weak.

Key moves

  • Pakistan imported shredded — recent physical range $416–420/MT CFR, with two recent cargoes near $417/MT; supplier offers hold at $420–425/MT.
  • Turkiye and US benchmarks firmer — Turkiye’s HMS 1&2 80:20 CFR benchmark rose about 1.4% week on week, its broader Turkish scrap index about 2.9%, and a US East Coast HMS export index about 4.9% — all pointing to firmer supplier resistance globally, though none of these moves translate directly into a Pakistan price.
  • Currency and fuel — the Pakistani rupee’s latest completed interbank close remains 277.16 per US dollar (unchanged over the weekend); petrol and diesel prices are unchanged from Saturday at roughly 391 and 409 rupees per litre respectively.

Freight and shipping

  • Strait of Hormuz: Iran said Sunday that diplomacy remains the only route to a resolution and that reopening the strait depends on its own conditions being met; the United States is reported to still expect further talks during the coming week. No reopening agreement has been reached.
  • Vessel traffic and oil: the most recent available readings (vessel counts and Friday’s oil settlement) have not been refreshed since the weekend’s developments — both are due for a fresh test once markets and carriers reopen for the week.
  • Port Qasim: remained operational Sunday with active container handling; no cancellations reported.
  • Reading the signals together: with markets still closed over the weekend, neither shipping traffic nor freight surcharges yet reflect the latest diplomatic exchange between Iran and the United States — Monday’s carrier reopening is the next real test.

Supplier markets

  • Offer levels: current ex-UK and EU shredded offers of $420–425/MT have now held for a second consecutive session, a narrower and steadier gap over recent physical trades than the wider supplier-ask levels reported earlier in the week.
  • 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.

Graph View