Bangladeshi mills have resumed purchase of Indian sponge iron who were on wait & watch mode since last two weeks. With the fresh deals in hand, SteelMint’s weekly price assessment moved up by USD 5-10/MT, W-o-W.
As per conversation, the suppliers in Kolkata, eastern India reported that total of 8,000-10,000 MT sponge iron export bookings have been made in last 1-2 days by Bangladeshi mills and the price range reported was near to USD 300-305/MT CPT Benapole. Also, few deals of better quality Indian sponge iron reported at around USD 306-308/MT CPT Benapole. Thus, this is equivalent to USD 318-320/MT CFR Chittagong, Bangladesh.
During the last week, Indian sponge iron export offers were hovering at USD 300/MT, equivalent to USD 310-315/MT CFR Chittagong. However, in recent deals the assessment have increased by USD 5-10/MT.
Participants claimed that the demand for exports is not up to the mark on account of weakening steel prices in the domestic market of Bangladesh. The local steel prices in Bangladesh inched down slightly despite rally in raw materials i.e. sponge iron import offers.
As per Dec’19 assessment, Indian sponge iron export offers to Bangladesh increased by USD 30/MT & imported scrap offers by USD 20-25/MT.
Further, the participants believe Indian sponge iron export offers to remain strong following good demand in Indian domestic market along with high cost raw materials. Prices in Indian domestic market gained by INR 2,000-2,500/MT (USD 28-35) in Dec’19.
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