Indian Sponge Iron Export Offers to Bangladesh Fall as Domestic Market Weakens

Export offers for Sponge Iron to Bangladesh fell by about USD 5-10/MT on weekly premises, primarily owing to decline in domestic prices in India.

SteelMint’s current week price assessment for lumps grade FeM 78-80 sponge iron stood at around USD 335-340/MT CPT Benpole (dry land port of Bangladesh & India) and about USD 355-360/MT CFR Chittagong, Bangladesh. Although, offers during last week was hovering at USD 345/MT CPT & USD 365/MT, CFR Chittagong; down by USD 5-10/MT, W-o-W.

East India – Kolkata based an exporter stated, “buying interest is average presently, however falling Indian domestic prices have also been forcing to correct prices for exports.”

The Indian domestic prices corrected owing to dull demand amid falling steel prices globally. In addition recent decline in iron ore & pellet prices (plunge close to INR 600-900/MT), has forced producers to cut prices.

According to SteelMint’s assessment domestic sponge iron prices fell by about INR 500-800/MT (USD 7-11) in a week and presently offers for 78-80 FeM Sponge C-DRI stand at INR 21,300-21,500/MT (USD 302-305) ex-Durgapur & INR 20,300-20,500/MT (USD 287-291) ex-Rourkela, East India.

Imported Scrap Offers Fall

Amid decline in global scrap prices, imported scrap offers to Bangladesh have also come down. The latest offers have corrected by USD 5-8/MT (W-o-W) and stood for containerised Shredded scrap at USD 357-360/MT CFR Chittagong, Bangladesh.