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Daily Market Note — 2026-10-27

5 min read

Daily Market Note — 2026-10-27

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

The read

The published Pakistan shredded level ticked up inside its recent range, and the cost of money for Pakistani importers rose today. The CFR Port Qasim shredded price (Fastmarkets MB-STE-0887) for 23 October is 415.35 USD per tonne, up 1.28 (+0.31%) from 414.07 on 16 October, the first rise after two weekly easings; the next weekly print is due Friday 30 October. BigMint and SMM both list Qasim entries dated 26 October, but neither shows a public number, so there is no second price to compare. The State Bank of Pakistan’s increase of its policy rate to 12.00% from 11.50% (Business Recorder, 26 October) took effect on 27 October. A higher rate raises importers’ carrying costs; whether it changes mill bids will show in later prints, not in this one.

Key moves

  • Pakistan rate and rupee — SBP policy rate 12.00% from 27 October. The SBP mark-to-market reference was about PKR 276.81 per US dollar on 26 October (276.82 on 23 October); that is an accounting reference, not the rate importers get from their banks.
  • Pakistan imports — SteelOrbis reported on 16 October, citing official statistics, that September scrap imports were 427,880 tonnes, up 18.3% on August and 16.7% on a year earlier, valued at 248.68 million USD. That is a blended customs figure across grades, not a shredded price, and it describes an earlier month.
  • Global steel — worldsteel reported September crude steel output of about 142.4 million tonnes, roughly 0.2% below a year earlier (23 October release).
  • Pakistan tax rules — Customs Today (14 October) reported that FBR’s revised steel-sector rules, effective 1 October, shorten the verification period for the 70% utilisation requirement on imported scrap from 12 months to six months for qualifying businesses. This is press-reported; the notice itself was not reviewed.

Freight and shipping

  • Gulf risk — Reuters (27 October) put Brent at 114.81 USD a barrel at 13:11 GMT, down 1.00 on the session, and reported attacks on merchant shipping near the Strait of Hormuz at their highest monthly level since its series began in 2017, while transits have risen and diplomacy continues. A Houthi claim of a strike on the Ras Tanura refinery is unverified. Active Gulf navigation warnings (NGA) are flat at 19, so that gauge does not echo the Reuters count. No carrier war-risk surcharge or insurer exclusion on Pakistan services was reported.
  • Port Qasim — the Port Qasim Authority’s 08:00 programme for 27 October lists one planned sailing and three planned berthings, against three and three the day before. These are scheduled movements, not container throughput or available space.
  • Carrier notices — Maersk (27 October) announced an inland fuel/energy surcharge on Store Door shipments with a price-calculation date on or after 28 October, with listed Baltic and Nordic country rates; and a USD 2,000 per container revision for contract bookings from most origins to Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq and the UAE from 9 November. Neither is a Pakistan-lane charge or a percentage on total ocean freight.
  • 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 draft list of non-OECD countries authorised to receive EU waste was published in September; the consultation closed on 16 October. BIR’s reading is that Pakistan is not proposed for ferrous or non-ferrous metal-waste streams in the draft, the first list is expected by about 21 November, and the new regime applies from 21 May 2027. The Commission’s initiative record (read 27 October) still shows the consultation closed and adoption upcoming with no date. It is a draft, not a current ban, and the final country and waste-code combinations are unconfirmed.
  • Trade flows — BIR’s January–June 2026 summary put Pakistan’s scrap imports at 1.504 million tonnes (+20.6% year on year), including 355,000 tonnes from the EU and 431,000 tonnes from the UK.
  • Thailand — the Department of Special Investigation (27 October) described a 26 October joint inspection at Laem Chabang over suspected hazardous or electronic waste mixed with imported cargo; enforcement activity, not a general restriction on clean metal scrap.
  • China copper scrap — SMM (23 October) reported September copper scrap imports of about 236,600 tonnes, up 33.37% on August.

Non-ferrous snapshot

Official LME prices (Westmetall) for Monday 26 October, USD per tonne, cash / three-month: copper 14,500 / 14,332 (cash +85 on 23 October), aluminium 3,047.50 / 3,027, zinc 3,900 / 3,797 (cash +110). Nickel cash was 15,535 (-160) and lead 1,900 (+14). The metals moved in different directions, so one broad move should not be applied to all scrap grades. 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.
  • Policy rate — the State Bank of Pakistan’s benchmark interest rate, which feeds into importers’ short-term borrowing and letter-of-credit costs.
  • 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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