BANGLADESH STEEL SCRAP: Covid-19 oxygen crisis rocks steelmakers, shipbreakers

The Bangladeshi steel and shipbreaking sectors are facing huge difficulties in the face of mounting Covid-19 cases in the country amid reduced supplies of oxygen, sources told Fastmarkets.

Daily deaths due to the virus in Bangladesh have soared in recent weeks, with a seven-day average of 100 fatalities due to Covid-19 recorded on Thursday April 22.
Bangladesh is under a nationwide lockdown, but steel and most industrial activity is currently allowed to operate - although that may change soon, sources told Fastmarkets.
Hospitals have come under crippling pressure in the country, with municipal oxygen supplies now being diverted away from industry and towards intensive care units.
This has led to shipbreakers and induction furnace (IF) steelmakers being unable to perform gas cutting at their factories, thereby hindering operations.

"The gas has all been diverted to Bangladeshi hospitals so IF mills can't process their scrap through gas cutting - only electric arc furnaces (EAFs) have their own oxygen supply in Bangladesh but most mills do...

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