The festive period brought the inevitable slowdown in the number of new deals concluded - after the record-breaking year about to finish. As such, local markets could perhaps be forgiven for the break in pace.

Deliveries continued aplenty though with vessels arriving into all locations, including China, after the recent upswing in prices there. Banking holidays and limited working hours of course impeded the usual pace, but deliveries still took place nonetheless.

Many are expecting another bumper year to come in 2013. However, whether it beats the year gone by remains to be seen as about 770 vessels have been beached into the sub¬continent alone.

In addition to the sub-continent trio of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, the Chinese and resurgent Turkish markets have had huge roles to play, in their own right, this year.

India as expected, has taken the majority of those vessels (nearly 435), despite suffering extreme volatility in the face of fluctuating steel prices and an extremely unstable currency once again. Bangladesh has seen the market open once again despite some delays at the start of the year - LCs and increased regulation have governed another volatile year there. Lastly, Pakistani buyers have emerged as serious competition for the usual Chittagong tonnage.

It is still very much a buyer's market however, with the various demo locations across the globe becoming saturated at various points during the year and supply far outstripping demand, if this trend continues into 2013, then we are in for another interesting year in the recycling industry

For week 52 of 2012, GMS demo rankings for the week are as below:

Market SentimentGEN CARGO PricesTANKER Prices

BangladeshCautiousUSD 390/lt ldtUSD 420/lt ldt

PakistanCautiousUSD 385/lt ldtUSD 415/lt ldt

IndiaWeakUSD 375/lt ldtUSD 410/lt ldt

ChinaBullishUSD 375/lt ldtUSD 390/lt ldt