Indian spot steel trades remained limited during the week-6 (1-8th Feb’20). Participants mentioned that, inquiries were less than the average, thus on rising stock, the prices slightly drop in major locations.
As per assessment made by SteelMint, this week prices of Semis & Finished long steel products have declined by INR 100-800/MT (upto USD 12). Also, the domestic Flat steel trades slow down this week after a hike in offers by primary mills in the beginning of Feb’20.
IRON ORE and PELLETS
Odisha govt. is doing auction for iron ore mines whose lease expiring on 31st Mar 2020, one after another in the 1st week month of February 2020. JSW bagged 4 iron ore mines in the auction so far.
As per recent orders by the state government, Orissa Minerals Development Co. has received extension in validity of iron ore and manganese ore mining lease at Champua till 15 Aug ‘2026. In another Judgment honourable Supreme Court of India has permitted Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd (OMC) to commence mining operations at Tiringpahar iron ore mines, via a letter dated 03 Feb’20.
Given great relief to JSPL honourable Supreme Court of India ordered to resume Sarda mines operations on the condition to pay dues (INR 933 crore) towards environmental compensation to Odisha Govt. by 29 Feb’20.
— PELLEX down by INR 350/MT to INR 6,800/wmt (DAP Raipur) this week. One of the pellet deal heard from Raipur pellet maker to Bilaspur around 5,000 MT at INR 6,600/MT ex-plant normalizing freight to Raipur at INR 6,750/MT (DAP, Raipur). In another deal, Odisha based pellet maker sold around 15,000 MT pellets to Raipur at around INR 6,600/MT (DAP, Raipur). Bellary based major pellet makers sold around 15,000 MT pellets for Fe 63% grade at INR 6,900-7,000/MT in the last three-four days. Kalinga Nagar based steelmaker has booked around 50,000 MT pellets from Odisha at INR 6,700/MT (Landed) recently.
— No pellets export deal heard this week. SteelMint assessment for standard grade pellets (Fe 64%, 3% Al) stands at USD 120/MT, CFR China against last week. Considering the coronavirus outbreak, deals have dried up for China.
— Shri Anirban Dasgupta has taken charge as the Director Projects & Business Planning of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) on 01st February, 2020.
COAL
Australian premium low-volatile (PLV) hard coking coal (HCC) prices have decreased marginally, on subdued trading activity in the FOB market after a few bookings were concluded early this week. In China, competitive offers emerged to boost buying interest amid concerns of a slowdown from steel markets.
Meanwhile in Australia, a major network outage on Thursday has halted train services to Queensland’s Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT) from neighboring coalmines; thus, disrupting export shipments from the country. Nevertheless, Australian coal prices have not been impacted due to persisting buying interest from Chinese buyers.
— Latest offers for the Premium HCC grade are assessed at around USD 151.00/MT FOB Australia, USD 161.75/MT CNF China and USD 162.10/MT CNF India.
— Pramod Agrawal, a 1991 batch IAS from Madhya Pradesh cadre has taken over the charge of Coal India Ltd (CIL) as the company’s new Chairman and Managing Director.
FERROUS SCRAP
Imported scrap offers to India have sharply dropped on a weekly basis, however many sellers have held their offers in the last 2 days, not offering much material amid the extremely volatile sentiments in Turkish import market and the news of a potential rebound in prices. Buyers too remained cautious.
— SteelMint’s assessment for containerized Shredded 211 from North America and Europe to India now stands at USD 282-285/MT CFR, down by USD 7-8/MT W-o-W, against USD 290-294/MT last week. Some bookings for Shredded scrap were witnessed for the western region at around USD 283-284/MT CFR, earlier this week
— HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Europe/UK standing in the range of USD 272-275/MT CFR Nhava Sheva, amid slow trades, while Dubai origin HMS 1 super (no ci gi) has been assessed at around USD 280/MT CFR.
— Some suppliers quoted South African HMS 1 at USD 288-290/MT CFR, however as per few sources, this came with gap for negotiation, as prices were on the higher side considering the present market dynamics. West African HMS 1&2 (80:20) to Goa was sold at USD 270/MT CFR.
FERRO ALLOYS
— Silico Manganese prices fell marginally amid oversupply after most producers operated in full capacity due to increased prices. This however created oversupply in the domestic market and higher selling pressure.
— Ferro Manganese prices remained stable amid down-trending demand. Although, the fall in prices is unlikely as the number of producers for Ferro Manganese is scarce.
— Indian Ferro Chrome prices dropped in the week by INR 2000/MT W-o-W amid deep selling pressure. The producers in India is experiencing an issue of Cash flow and are forced to allocate a higher quantity in the domestic market.
— Indian Ferro Silicon prices escalated in the past week amid short supply. Producers are facing raw material shortage.
SEMI FINISHED
Indian billet trades slow-down this week as prices slump by INR 100-800/MT amid poor off take of finished goods. In this duration major fall of INR 700-800/MT in billet seen in Western India.
Similarly, Sponge iron offers dropped by INR 100-500/MT W-o-W following significant fall in Billet prices & strong supply.
— Indian export offers of induction grade billet (100*100 mm) are reported at around USD 410/MT ex-mill at Durgapur, equivalent to USD 435/MT CPT Nepal. As per trade sources, about 4,000-5,000 MT billet export deals were concluded in the last couple of days to Nepal via road route.
— Sponge C-DRI export offers to Nepal assessed at around USD 280/MT bag packed, FeM 80 & mix material (70:30) in eastern India.
— Indian sponge iron (80 FeM, 100% lumps) export offers were reported at around USD 295-300/MT CPT Benapole (dry port of India & Bangladesh), which is equivalent to USD 310-315/MT CFR Chittagong, Bangladesh.
— TATA Metaliks Limited has kept its pig iron offers unaltered for Feb’20 deliveries.The current offers for Foundry pig iron is reported at INR 32,000/MT (USD 448) & for Low Silicon (1-1.5%) pig iron is around INR 29,500/MT (USD 412), the prices are ex-plant, Kharagpur, eastern India.
— Jindal Steel has reduced pig iron offers and reported steel grade at INR 28,800-28,900/MT ex-Raigarh.
— Two of the major Indian mills had issued tender for export of billet & bloom of 10,800 MT & 30,000 MT, respectively, which due date was till 7th Feb’20. As per market source report, both the tenders received dull response amid depressed market sentiments.
FINISH LONG
India finish long steel demand remained poor this week and price range declined by INR 200-500/MT in most of the location except in few specified markets of western India like Mumbai, Ahmedabad where the prices contracted upto INR 700/MT.
However, in mid of the week market observed little positive amid increase in raw material prices (Ingot/Billet) which makes the rebar manufacturers to raise their offers hoping for better trade activity in coming days but price range restrained with limited trade volume.
— The trade reference rebar prices (12-25 mm) through midsized mills assessed at INR 33,200-33,400/MT ex Raipur, INR 35,500-35,800/MT ex-Jalna & INR 35,200-35,600/MT ex Chennai.
— Central region, Raipur based heavy structure manufacturers have maintained trade discount by INR 1,300-1,700/MT and current trade reference prices at INR 36,300-36,700/MT (200 Angle) ex-work.
— Trade discounts in Raipur wire rod is currently at INR 100-200/MT and trade reference prices stood at INR 32,700-32,900/MT ex-Raipur and INR 33,400-33,800/MT ex-Durgapur, size 5.5 mm.
FINISH FLAT
This week, the domestic HRC trades remained slow after the announcement of the price hike by major Indian steel mills. Mills increased offers of around INR 1,000-1,500/MT for Feb’20 deliveries.
HRC prices in the trade segment remained largely stable, however, they increased prices in southern India. Current trade reference prices for HRC stands at INR 39,000- 40,000/MT ex-Mumbai, INR 39,000-39,500/MT ex-Delhi, and INR 40,000 – 40,500/MT ex-Chennai.
This week, domestic CRC prices increased by around INR 500-800/MT in major markets. Current trade reference CRC (0.9 mm, IS 513) prices on a weekly premise assessed at INR 45,000-46,000/MT ex-Mumbai, INR 43,250- 45,500/MT ex-Delhi, and INR 45,500-46,500/MT ex-Chennai. Prices mentioned above are basic, and extra GST@ 18% will be applicable.
Thus, market participants shared with SteelMint that trade inquiries remain limited as buyers seemed hesitant to make fresh bookings.
— SAIL has issued export tender for 8,000 to 10,000 MT mill plate from its Rourkela steel Plant, Odisha. The offer must be valid upto 14 Feb’20 with shipment scheduled by 31st Mar’20
Reference Prices as on 8th February 2020 (Week 6)
| Products | Regions | Taxes | Prices in INR/MT | W-o-W |
| Pellet Fe 63%, 6-20 mm | Ex-Durgapur | GST at 5% Extra | 6,350 | -100 |
| Iron ore 6-40 mm, Fe 65% | Chhattisgarh | Excluding Royalty, DMF & NMET. GST @ 5% extra | 3,200 | 0 |
| 5-18mm, Fe 63% | Odisha | Ex-mines, Incld Royalty, DMF & NMET, GST extra | 4,650 | 0 |
| Fines Fe 63% | Odisha | Ex-mines, Incld Royalty, DMF & NMET, GST extra | 2,350 | -150 |
| Coking Coal, Premium HCC | CNF India | Prices in USD | 162 | -3 |
| Silico Manganese (60-14) | Ex-Raipur | Excluding GST | 65,500 | -625 |
| Scrap HMS (80:20) | Ex-Mumbai | GST at 18% Extra | 22,700 | -200 |
| C-DRI 80 FeM | Ex-Raipur | GST at 18% Extra | 20,000 | -100 |
| P-DRI 80 FeM | Ex-Raipur | GST at 18% Extra | 19,000 | 0 |
| Pig iron Steel grade | Ex-Raipur | GST at 18% Extra | 28,800 | -500 |
| Billet 125*125 MM | Ex-Raipur | GST at 18% Extra | 29,350 | -150 |
| Rebar (12-25mm) | Ex-Raipur (Medium Scale) | GST at 18% Extra | 33,300 | -100 |
| Wire Rod (5.5 mm) | Ex-Raipur | GST at 18% Extra | 32,900 | -100 |
| Structure ( 40 Angle) | Ex-Mumbai | GST at 18% Extra | 36,100 | -800 |
| HRC (2.5-8 mm) | Ex-Mumbai | GST at 18% Extra | 39,500 | 0 |
| CRC (0.90mm) | Ex-Mumbai | GST at 18% Extra | 45,500 | +750 |
| HR Plate(5-10mm) | Ex-Mumbai | GST at 18% Extra | 38,850 | +200 |
Prices are Ex-works, Exclusive of GST at 18%
Indian Export Reference Prices as on 8th Feb’20
| Commodity | Particular/Delivery | Size and Grade | Prices | 1W | 1M |
| Pellet | FOB India | 6-20 mm, Fe 64% | 110 | 113 | 105 |
| Scrap | CNF India | HMS-1&2, Dubai | 275 | 275 | 305 |
| Billet | FOB India | 150*150, IS 2830 | 405 | 418 | 423 |
| Sponge Iron | CNF Bangladesh | Lumps, FeM 80, India | 310 | 313 | 325 |
| Pig Iron | FOB India | Steel Grade | 340 | 345 | 350 |
| HRC | FOB India | 2.5-8mm, IS 2062 | 538 | 538 | 525 |
Prices in USD/MT
Source: SteelMint Research
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