The Indian Sponge iron exports offers to Bangladesh have moved down further by USD 10/MT, according to SteelMint weekly price assessment. The price falls significantly in line with moderate domestic demand and resistance in global scrap market.
The latest prices for 78-80 FeM sponge lumps by Odisha based manufacturers are reported at USD 375-380/MT which is down by USD 10/MT against last week at USD 385-390/MT; CPT Benapole (land port of Bangladesh and India). On CFR basis, the offers are hovering at around USD 395/MT, CFR Chittagong, Bangladesh.
“About 1,000 MT sponge iron have been sold out at the price of USD 379-380/MT CPT and another deal with couple of buyers are under negotiation which may soon get concluded,” stated by a producer source based in Odisha having sponge iron production capacity of 0.39 MnT per annum.
The trade participants in Kolkata also mentioned that the current offers are close to USD 380/MT CPT and the buyers are looking procurement at USD 375-378/MT following decline in scrap prices.
Indian Sponge iron prices marginally rise
Domestic sponge iron prices which reached a month’s low level during last week (6th Feb) have slightly increased by around INR 500/MT (USD 8) and the slight gain in prices is attributed to improved domestic inquiries.
According to SteelMint assessment, currently offers for 78-80 FeM C-DRI mix material are hovering at INR 21,600-21,800/MT ex-Durgapur & INR 20,200-20,400/MT ex-Rourkela, East India.
The market participants mentioned that domestic sponge iron supply and demand has improved and there are indications that prices can be range bound. However, as most of miners had paid their dues and are in hurry to resume operations this may create panic for the Indian sponge iron industry.
Leave a Reply