TDC Ventures

Daily Market Note — 2026-10-18

3 min read

Daily Market Note — 2026-10-18

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

The read

A quiet Sunday with no new price to report. London metals and Pakistan’s interbank market were closed, and the public sources checked on 18 October produced no new verified Pakistan scrap price, bid, offer or booking. The CFR Port Qasim shredded price (Fastmarkets MB-STE-0887) is a Friday print; the last one this note can cite is 417.31 on 9 October, and the 16 October print has not yet been observed. An unobserved price is unavailable, not unchanged. BigMint’s Europe-origin containerised shredded entry for Port Qasim is dated 16 October with its value not publicly visible, and its Punjab domestic shredded listing (13 October) is still labelled “Weak”.

Key moves

  • Türkiye — the AISU weekly reference for US-origin HMS 1&2 80:20 CFR Türkiye (published 17 October) is the same weekly observation as before. A refreshed website date is not a new assessment.
  • India — BigMint’s public domestic ferrous row (17 October) is unchanged; it is not a Pakistan import quotation.
  • Paywalled prices — SteelOrbis’s daily page shows a refreshed date on 18 October, but its absolute price cells were not accessible, so no figure is carried.
  • China — official customs retrieval for September scrap import and export quantities failed on 18 October; no figure is available.

Freight and shipping

  • Container indices — Drewry’s 15 October World Container Index stood at USD 4,485 per 40-foot container, and Xeneta’s 16 October update gave no route-specific quote to Karachi or Port Qasim. Global composites are not a 20-foot Port Qasim scrap rate.
  • Gulf risk — Brent was about USD 109.86 a barrel at Friday’s close, and active Gulf navigation warnings (NGA) stayed at 19 for a further session. Elevated Gulf routing risk persists as a cost and scheduling consideration for Pakistan-bound cargo.
  • Port activity — Karachi Port Trust’s tonnage page was refreshed on 18 October; aggregate throughput is not grade-specific scrap trade.

Supplier markets

  • EU — the consultation on the draft list of non-OECD countries authorised to receive EU waste closed on 16 October. The Commission’s announcement (18 September) and BIR’s update (13 October) are unchanged: no final list has been adopted, and the regime is intended to apply from 21 May 2027, by country and waste code. A draft is a prospective restriction, not a present ban.
  • Buyer qualification — public supplier portals of large aluminium and copper consumers continue to require site-specific specifications and approved-supplier status. Published specifications can be years old and uncontrolled; they are a qualification route, not evidence of buying demand.

Non-ferrous snapshot

Official LME three-month prices for Friday 16 October (Westmetall), change on 15 October: copper USD 14,485.00 (+123.00), aluminium 3,012.00 (+17.50), zinc 3,699.00 (+17.50), nickel 15,355.00 (+230.00), lead 1,891.00 (+2.00), tin 50,400.00 (+400.00). There was no weekend session; trading resumes Monday 19 October. 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.
  • HMS 1&2 80:20 — heavy melting steel, a blend of 80% grade 1 and 20% grade 2 scrap.
  • 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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